Toughening agents
It is easy to confuse them with plasticisers, and some plasticisers can indeed be used as toughening agents such as Calcium lignosulfonate, because the principle of both is usually to change the crystallinity of the polymer. But in terms of product parameters, the two are actually different. Using the hair analogy again, plasticisers are the equivalent of water, which mainly governs the process, while tougheners are the equivalent of hair conditioner, which mainly governs the application process later on. Some plastics are so brittle that they feel like glass when they are used, and they break when they are dropped on the floor, so obviously they are not very comfortable to use. Toughening agents exist to solve this problem. For PVC plastics, plasticizers are also toughening agents, but other plastic toughening agents are varied, and some directly use rubber such as polymer as a toughening agent.
Antioxidants
BHT is the most common phenolic antioxidant and is used extremely commonly in the plastics industry, where it is almost a necessity. Plastics are organic polymers and the molecules are actually quite fragile and can be dangerous if exposed to oxygen at high temperatures.
Flame retardants
Flame retardants are not used much in the plastics industry, but they are really important. If our plastics processing industry were to produce flame retardant plastics to standard, many fire hazards would be reduced. Flame retardants work simply by stopping the rate of combustion, many are substances containing phosphorus and chlorine that quickly generate free radicals and thus stop the spread of the fire.
Colorants
This one is even simpler: the role of colouring plastics. Performance determines use, while aesthetics determines profit, so for specific companies, the latter is sometimes more of a concern. If we see a mobile phone with an unevenly coloured casing, we probably won’t buy it. As for resistance to drop, I haven’t seen anyone test the strength of the casing when buying a mobile phone anyway, even at the counter of the brand that smashes walnuts.
Reinforcing agents
Most of the time the verbal name filler also refers to reinforcing agents or tackifying agent malaysia , whose role is to increase the strength of the plastic. Strength is not the same as hardness, which is a distinction to be made. Most plastics do not require hardness during use, but with the exception of food bags where the tear is located, plastics in general have high requirements for strength. Most of the time, reinforcement also reduces the cost of the plastic, as commonly used reinforcing agents, including calcium carbonate, talc, graphite or carbon black, and silica are relatively cheap. Of course, these substances can be strengthened by their direct interaction with the polymer, they cannot be added indefinitely, and their strength will decrease if more is added. They are also generally harmless.
