Engineering Plastic Compounding

Engineering plastics modification processing is an effective means to improve
the performance of engineering plastics. The following are several common
processing methods:

Filling Modification

• Principle: By adding inorganic or organic fillers such as glass fiber,
carbon fiber, talcum powder, calcium carbonate, etc. to engineering plastics.
These fillers can change the physical and mechanical properties of plastics.

• Advantages: It can significantly improve the strength, stiffness and
hardness of engineering plastics. For example, after adding glass fiber to
polyamide (PA), its tensile strength and flexural modulus are greatly increased,
and it can be used to manufacture automotive parts, mechanical casings and other
products that require relatively high mechanical properties.

Blending Modification

• Principle: Mixing two or more different engineering plastics together to
improve the performance by taking advantage of the complementary properties of
different plastics.

• Advantages: It can integrate the properties of multiple plastics. For
example, when polycarbonate (PC) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer
(ABS) are blended, the resulting material has both the high heat resistance and
good mechanical properties of PC and the toughness and easy processability of
ABS, and it can be used to manufacture electronic products such as computer
casings.

Reinforcement Modification

• Principle: Using fibrous materials (such as glass fiber, carbon fiber,
etc.) to reinforce engineering plastics. These fibers play a supporting and
strengthening role in the plastic matrix and prevent the expansion of internal
cracks in the material.

• Advantages: It greatly improves the impact resistance and strength of the
material. For example, carbon fiber-reinforced polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has a
much higher strength than unreinforced PEEK and can be used to manufacture
high-performance components in the aerospace field.

Toughening Modification

• Principle: Adding elastomers or rubber-like substances to improve the
toughness of engineering plastics. These toughening agents can absorb energy
when the plastic is subjected to external forces and prevent the material from
breaking.

• Advantages: It effectively improves the toughness of engineering plastics
so that the material is less likely to break when subjected to impact. For
example, adding styrene-butadiene rubber to polystyrene (PS) can greatly improve
its impact resistance and can be used to manufacture product casings that
require impact resistance.

Copolymerization Modification

• Principle: Through chemical reactions, two or more different monomers are
polymerized to form new copolymers. The combination of different monomers can
endow engineering plastics with new properties.

• Advantages: It can precisely design the properties of materials. For
example, using different olefin monomers to copolymerize with styrene to change
the properties of polystyrene (PS) so that it has better chemical resistance and
processing properties, and it can be used to manufacture components of chemical
equipment.

Crosslinking Modification

• Principle: Promoting the formation of chemical bonds between the molecules
of engineering plastics to form a three-dimensional network structure and change
the molecular structure and properties of the material.

• Advantages: It improves the heat resistance, solvent resistance and
dimensional stability of the material. For example, crosslinking epoxy resin can
make it maintain good performance in a high-temperature environment and can be
used for high-temperature application scenarios such as electronic
packaging.