<b>Xiaomi and Huawei have entered the automotive field one after another, good news: polyurethane</b>

On April 17, 2021, Huawei finally "built a car". Different from Apple and Xiaomi, Huawei's approach is to release the "joint brand" new car Alpha S Huawei HI version with ARCFOX Jihu. Although Huawei issued a statement saying that it will not build cars at present, after all, Huawei also had a "previous record" of not making mobile phones.

According to incomplete statistics, in the first three months of this year, many Internet companies such as Ali, Tencent, and Baidu officially announced new car-making matters. Didi also announced in April that it has plans to develop in the smart car industry. Coupled with Apple, which previously announced car building, and Lei Jun, who made a high-profile announcement at the March conference, the enthusiasm of Internet technology giants to enter the automotive field can be seen.

The news of Internet technology giants entering the automotive field and the news of promoting the development of the industry not only has a driving effect on the battery, steel and other industries, but is also great news for the future development of the polyurethane industry , because the relationship between automobiles and polyurethane is very close!

Automotive polyurethane is mainly used in automobile dashboard, seat cushion, backrest, headrest, door, armrest, steering wheel Components, car roofs, door inner panels and seals and other parts. It is the most promising important material for the plasticization of automobiles. In addition, HDI curing agent is also an indispensable and important component in automotive original paint and refinish paint.

Polymeric MDI is mainly used in auto parts such as car seats, backrests, headrests, instrument panels, ceilings, door inner panels, steering wheels, and armrests. It is used in a mixed system with TDI, liquefied MDI, and modified MDI. Among them, in the application of car seats, there are TDI system, M/T system and pure MDI system. The seats of high-end cars such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW have basically used the full MDI system, and the full MDI system is also the future development trend. MDI is more environmentally friendly than TDI, and can effectively reduce VOC odor in the car. More and more formulas start to use MDI and polyether foam as raw materials for car seats. In terms of technology, the current ratio of polymeric MDI to T/M has changed from 7:3 to 5:5, and the demand for polymeric MDI has increased.

In recent years, due to the improvement of raw materials and formula, block polyurethane foam can also produce load-bearing foam, which has improved comfort performance. At present, most of the production enterprises adopt the cold molding process for production, which has the advantages of short production cycle, low production energy consumption, and its products have high resilience. The hardness of different parts of the seat cushion can be accurately controlled by changing the isocyanate index; the middle part of the seat cushion is soft and comfortable, while the sides are harder to provide the ability to support the frame. It helps to keep the body of the driver and passengers stable, so as to improve the comfort and safety of drivers and passengers. At present, the development direction of the world's automobiles (mainly cars and new energy vehicles) is lightweight . Lightweight is an important technical measure to improve fuel combustion efficiency and reduce vehicle exhaust emissions, and to achieve energy saving and emission reduction for vehicles. The plasticization and polyurethaneization of automotive materials, replacing steel with plastic, is an inevitable trend and an important technical approach for the development of lightweight automobiles.