How does fluidity affect TPE material costs?

TPE, a material that combines plastic and rubber and has seen rapid growth in recent years, has found widespread application in numerous fields thanks to its excellent performance and easy processing. However, while pursuing product performance and processing efficiency, cost control remains a key concern for companies. Among TPE's many properties, fluidity, while not as directly reflected in product functionality as hardness and tensile strength, acts as an invisible lever, influencing the overall cost of TPE materials. So, how does fluidity affect TPE material costs? Below is an explanation from the editors of Shenzhen Zhongsuwang TPE.

1. Poor Flowability:

TPE material's fluidity, simply put, refers to its ability to fill a mold or pass through an extrusion die in its molten state. Poor fluidity can lead to a series of chain reactions, directly increasing costs:

1. Increased scrap rates and significant material waste: Insufficient fluidity is one of the main causes of underfill (incomplete filling) in injection molded parts, as well as visible surface defects such as weld lines, bubbles, and ripples. These defective products must be scrapped, directly increasing raw material costs. To ensure product quality, injection volume or holding time may sometimes have to be increased, which also results in unnecessary material consumption.

2. Low production efficiency and increased energy consumption: To improve poor flowability, operators often resort to increasing processing temperatures, extending processing times, or increasing injection/extrusion speeds. Higher temperatures mean higher energy consumption, and longer processing times directly reduce output per unit time. Furthermore, poor flowability can place greater pressure on equipment (such as injection molding machines and extruders), which can increase wear and tear, indirectly increasing maintenance costs.

3. Increased mold wear and increased maintenance costs: To force a poorly flowable melt through the mold runners and cavities, higher injection pressures are required. Prolonged high-pressure operation can cause greater wear on the mold, especially those with thin walls, complex structures, or poorly designed runners, shortening its lifespan and increasing the cost of repair or replacement.

4. Increased post-processing costs: Poor flowability can lead to greater internal stresses in the product, increasing the likelihood of subsequent heat treatment to relieve stress, which in turn incurs additional energy and time costs. 2. Too Good Flowability:

Contrary to poor flowability, too good flowability isn't always a good thing and can actually increase costs:

1. Potentially Higher Material Selection Costs: TPE materials with excellent flowability may be formulated with more expensive low-molecular-weight components, specialized processing aids, or specially treated fillers, which can result in higher procurement costs.

2. Potentially Impaired Product Performance: Excessive flowability sometimes comes at the expense of certain physical properties, such as strength, toughness, or heat resistance, compared to materials with moderate flowability. If selecting a material with excessive flowability results in substandard product performance, reselection of the material or design adjustments may be necessary, resulting in additional costs.

3. Increased Processing Control Difficulty: Materials with excessive flowability are more prone to flash and overflow during processing, requiring higher mold precision and clamping force. Furthermore, excessively rapid flow can also lead to internal voids or burns in the product, requiring more precise process control, increasing operational difficulty and potential defect rates. III. How to Optimize Costs Through Flow Management?

After recognizing the impact of flow on costs, companies can adopt the following strategies for optimization:

1. Precise Material Selection: Select TPE grades with optimal flow based on the specific product structure (such as wall thickness and complexity), mold design, and production equipment capabilities. Avoid blindly pursuing high flow, which increases material costs, or choosing grades with insufficient flow, which leads to soaring processing costs.

2. Formula Optimization: If conditions permit, collaborate with TPE suppliers to develop customized formulations for specific applications. By adjusting the ratios of base polymer, compatibilizer, filler, and additives, material flow can be optimized while maintaining performance, ensuring a better fit with the production process and reducing overall costs.

3. Process Improvement: Without sacrificing product quality, optimize parameters such as processing temperature, injection speed, holding pressure, and mold temperature to maximize the flow potential of existing materials, reduce scrap rates, and improve production efficiency.

4. Mold Design and Maintenance: Design a rational runner system to ensure smooth melt flow. Regularly maintain the mold to reduce increased flow resistance due to wear. 5. Strengthen supply chain management: Ensure consistent quality across batches of purchased TPE materials to avoid processing difficulties and increased costs due to material fluctuations.

The above analysis demonstrates the complex and subtle relationship between the fluidity of TPE materials and their cost. Insufficient fluidity directly leads to material waste, inefficiency, and increased energy consumption, significantly driving up costs. Excessive fluidity, on the other hand, can increase material procurement costs or degrade product performance. Therefore, it is crucial for TPE product companies to consider fluidity as a parameter requiring meticulous management, rather than a characteristic that can be ignored.