Free blend combination series
Technology that creates the profound feeling and beauty of metal GEOPLAS Metal compounding
The reverse is also true
Since the period of high economic miracle, the word "lightening" has become a keyword for many manufacturing companies.
From the perspective of being convenient to carry, affecting the fuel efficiency of the car, and improving workability, it can be said that this is an era in which lightness is required.
The material that played a role in reducing the weight must have been plastic.
Among many materials, plastic has been regarded as the most suitable raw material for reducing the weight of products and parts because of its low specific density and excellent workability.
By pursuing weight reduction, it can be said that the plastic market has expanded steadily.
"So why aren't all things in the world made of plastic?"
Things made of iron, stainless steel, aluminum,
"What are the requirements for these metals?"
It is judged that it is impossible with plastic raw materials when you want to meet these requirements, such as products that require a sense of quality, appearance that requires gloss, coldness when touched, and a sense of security that you feel from the heavy weight. Is excluded from the selected materials.
Plastic lacks the "taste," "stability," and "satisfaction" of metal, and has the image of being cheap.
Lightweight plastic and heavy, high-class metal exist in the opposite world.
If we could give plastic the taste and luxury of metal, we thought that we could create a completely new value for plastic, which is superior to metal in terms of design performance, processing performance, and cost performance. ..
Therefore, Daiichi Seikosha set itself apart from many plastic manufacturers and incorporated this requirement into their items.
"Heavy and high-class plastic?" We put into practice "the opposite is true."
Metal texture
Luxury of metal
Feeling of weight of metal
Metal feel
Used as the target material for the free blend method
Dai-ichi Seikosha uses plastic as a base resin and has realized diversifying customer objectives by blending.
The needs for metal are, so to speak, things that can only be experienced with metal.
To achieve this taste with plastic, we had to reduce the volume of the plastic to the limit and mix one of the metal materials to the limit. Metallic materials on the market.
Moreover, it is a condition of compounding that these exist as powder.
Among the metals, the ones in which this powder exists include iron powder, stainless steel powder, ferrite powder, aluminum powder, zinc powder, copper powder, tungsten powder, zirconium powder, etc.
These did not exist to mix with plastic, but are used for different purposes.
For example, it is an indispensable material for heat conductive materials such as shot blasting performed before painting, disposable body warmers, and the original raw material for die-cast products, and is still consumed in large quantities for the purpose.
Only Daiichi Seikosha sought a new role for these metal powders as a material for blending plastic raw materials.
Typical organic raw materials are chemical raw materials such as plastics, but metal powder is positioned exceptionally as a metal raw material and is differentiated from inorganic raw materials such as pottery, ceramics and wood powder.
Originally, metal is not used as a compounding material for organic raw materials, so another item is required to mix it.
That item is the coupling agent. Only by finding a combination of coupling agents can hybrid raw materials exist.
Similarly, the free blend method started research and development by finding appropriate coupling agents and additives according to each metal powder.
Birth of GEOPLAS
The R & D stance of Daiichi Seikosha is clear.
What and how much is mixed? not,
What and how much to mix to achieve the goal! It will be.
"What kind of compounding treatment and means should be used for that purpose!" Is the main axis of research and development, and this has not changed consistently since the company was founded.
In this way, the plastic raw material containing metal powder according to the purpose was completed.
Metallic raw materials are materials that originally existed on the earth, and if we look further into the future, we will soon find new materials on other planets. We took GEO from GEOLOGY, which means geology, as a unified compound name, while being excited about unknown research.
A new free-blend formulation category "GEOPLAS" was born. Currently, there are various raw materials that have been established and are already used as production materials, including iron powder and rare metals such as tungsten.
In response to various market demands, we have graded a large number of combinations of plastic raw materials, which are base resins, and these metal raw materials.
Metal compounding example
In familiar places, plastic is already used for the body of ballpoint pens, but metal bodies are still selected for high-end grades. In addition, metal was the mainstream material for high-grade grade zones such as rulers and pen cases.
These are because it was thought that the demand for "luxury" could not be met with plastic.
Furthermore, tape cutters, punches, staplers, etc. require a "heavy feeling" from the viewpoint of operation functions, and there are low-grade plastic materials, but everyone has unstable operation performance when using them. Is as you are aware.
There is another reason why "sharpness" must be made of metal. The average specific density of plastic is about 1.2, but all of the metals have a specific density of more than 5, and have a heavy weight.
This makes it possible to operate easily without human effort, that is, it brings out the "sharpness".
In products, cutter knives, cutting machines, scissors, etc. use metal to meet these demands.
The [GEOPLAS iron powder] grade possessed by Daiichi Seikosha has made it possible to replace metal products with plastic products without compromising these requirements.
In addition, the cosmetics industry, toy industry, and sanitary goods industry also use plastic and metal properly from the same viewpoint.
By introducing grades such as [GEOPLAS zinc powder], [GEOPLAS aluminum powder], and [GEOPLAS ferrite powder], resinification by plastics with high specific density is being promoted one after another.
Here is an example.
・ For faucet equipment, kitchen products, residential water parts, etc. that are used around water and require a specific weight comparable to that of metal.
Our [GEOPLAS stainless powder] grade is recommended.
For this formulation, polypropylene is selected from plastic materials and stainless steel is selected from metal materials, enabling a maximum compounding ratio of stainless steel powder of up to 70%.
In the case of plastic, complicated designs are possible as long as the mold is established, and if there is no cheap feeling peculiar to plastic when touched, it will be possible to commercialize it like a high-class designer brand.
The reason why stainless steel was selected as the target material is that it has both coldness due to thermal conductivity and a sense of stability, and yet it does not rust.
Currently, it has been adopted by major faucet equipment manufacturers and major housing equipment manufacturers, but the general consumers who are using it are
You are using it without noticing that "this is plastic". -In the stationery industry, there were still many parts in which metal was used, as plastics violated the product policy.
Process to realization
Our origin is
"Finding a means of success to succeed"
"If there is no means, think about our original"
"If successful, that will eventually be standardized."
All the negative elements that hinder the challenge, which can be said to be the corporate culture, are eliminated from the company, and it is declared that failure is the necessary means for success, and not only the formulation but also the production machine, mechanism, and guarantee have been established. We have built a production system and overturned various metal parts in each industry with plastic raw materials that are mistaken for metal.
Please come and experience the many products we have created.
"Is this plastic anymore?" You must say that word.
As mentioned from the beginning, by blending a high amount of metal with organically classified plastics, Daiichi Seikosha has created plastic materials with "luxury," "stability," "ease of use," and "sharpness."
But why haven't both plastic and metal companies done anything in the past?
That's because there were many problems that could be imagined before trying, which hindered the behavior of the company.
(1) How should materials with different melting points be compatible with each other?
(2) Is it possible to achieve stable production without variation in mass production?
③ Is there a problem with the durability of the screws of the injection molding machine?
④ The state of the interface should create a relationship between the sea and the island. At this time, can the basic physical characteristics be guaranteed?
⑤ Does the oxidized structure of metal occur in the same way even with plastic compounding?
For other companies, the extra knowledge of the past hinders the speed of research here as well.
