In the injection molding machine industry, automotive is a single market that can drive all stakeholders. Regarding the relationship between the automobile market and the injection molding machine market, the industry has expressed this statement.
Taking the US injection molding machine market as an example, stimulated by the volume of automobile transactions, American machinery manufacturers are optimistic about the machinery market.
Two consecutive hurricanes, Harvey and Irma, are reported to have hit Texas and Florida, wreaking havoc on major cities. Many cars have been damaged and need to be replaced with new ones, and automakers have seen a significant increase in sales in September.
The new automotive platform has greatly stimulated the sales of injection molding equipment. Among them, 1. 2. third-line customers of Weimeng Baden Field Motors continue to open new factories and purchase new equipment, even buying as many as 100 units at a time. The general focus on the automotive market has changed their previous estimates of the injection molding machine market.
How much impact does the automotive market have on the injection molding machine industry?
Global car sales may rise again in 2018
The German Automobile Manufacturers Association (VDA) predicts that global car sales are expected to increase by 1% to 85.7 million vehicles in 2018, and sales of newly launched passenger cars are expected to maintain growth in some major markets around the world. In 2018, sales of new passenger cars in Europe will continue the high performance of 2017, with a cumulative sales of 15.6 million vehicles in the EU and EFTA countries.
Although the new car market in the United States, including traditional passenger cars and light trucks/SUVs, will lack vitality in 2018, and is expected to decline by about 2% to 16.8 million vehicles, it is also a relatively high achievement. Other markets, such as China, India, Russia and Brazil, will continue to grow. China will easily retain its position as the world's largest single market, with sales expected to rise by 2% to 24.6 million vehicles; India's new car market is expected to grow by 10% to 3.6 million vehicles, possibly surpassing Germany for the first time; Russia and Brazil will also continue to show signs of recovery.
Injection Molding Technology and Auto Parts
Below, we will explore the relationship between injection molding technology and auto parts from several examples.
The lightweighting of cars is already well known to the public. Engineering plastics have made an important contribution to the lightweight of automobiles, with microporous plastics, low-density materials, and thin-walled materials as typical representatives.
Taking the Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan as an example, the Mucell door interior panel frame is used for one-time injection molding, with a PU active foam layer in the middle and a leather layer on the surface.
Ford also uses MuCell microfoam injection molding technology in C- MAX, GrandCMAX, S-MAX, Mondeo and Galaxy models. During the part molding process, the air bubbles are filled to form an extremely fine honeycomb structure, which not only saves plastic, but also reduces the weight without affecting the stability of the part.
In addition to the interior and exterior decoration of the car, the tailgate is also developing in the direction of all-plastic. It is understood that the plastic tailgate not only has high strength, but also has high integration. They can integrate antennas, high-mounted brake lights, glass, windshields, taillights, cameras, electric tailgate switches, license plates, license plate lights, etc. At present, the full plastic tailgate has been applied to many models. Generally speaking, the inner panel of the all-plastic tailgate uses long glass fiber reinforced PP(LGF PP), while the outer panel and spoiler use PP or TPO, all of which are molded using injection molding technology and then used adhesive coating The process is assembled.
The development of automobile lightweight trend has also promoted the development of fiber composite materials. At present, LFT injection molding process has become the mainstream process of passenger car thermoplastic composite structure and functional parts; the development of battery shell mainly adopts SMC and LFT-D process, which has been widely used in new energy vehicles.