Difference PC, TPU products, and silicone products
There are four types of mobile phone cases on the market today: PC, TPU, silicone, and silicone-based elastomer.
PC is the abbreviation of polycarbonate, the English word for polycarbonate is Polycarbonate, referred to as PC engineering plastics, PC material is in fact what we call engineering plastics in one, as a widely used material in the world, PC has its own characteristics and advantages and disadvantages, PC is a comprehensive performance of excellent amorphous thermoplastic resin, with excellent electrical insulation, extensibility, dimensional stability and chemical resistance, high strength, heat resistance, and chemical resistance. PC is an amorphous thermoplastic resin with excellent electrical insulation, elongation, dimensional stability and chemical resistance, high strength, heat resistance, and cold resistance; also has the advantages of being self-extinguishing, flame retardant, non-toxic, colorable, etc., in all corners of your life can see the shadow of PC plastic, mass industrial production, and easy processing characteristics also make it extremely cheap.
TPU is the main material used in the manufacture of clear water sleeves and is short for Thermoplastic Urethane. Polyurethane elastomers are a special category of elastomers, with a wide range of hardnesses and properties, so they are a class of polymeric materials between rubber and plastic. They can be heated and plasticized and have little or no cross-linking in their chemical structure; their molecules are essentially linear, yet there is some physical cross-linking.
It is a highly reactive adsorbent material, amorphous, with the chemical formula mSi2nH2O, insoluble in water and solvents, non-toxic and tasteless, chemically stable, and does not react with any substance except strong alkalis and hydrofluoric acid. The silicone covers for digital products currently on sale are basically organic silicone. Safe and environmentally friendly, comfortable to the touch, drop-proof, anti-slip, shock-resistant, and other advantages. There are several silicone mobile phone cover practices, one is drip glue, drip glue is only suitable for doing less color, and simple pattern products, all have a color printing process, the traditional color printing method can only do flat, but can do three-dimensional color printing of few and far between.
Silicone is used for mobile phone cases, wear-resistant, dirt-resistant, skin-friendly, anti-bacterial, silky dry, etc.
To sum up the above analysis, we know that the purchase of protective covers is not just to look good on the line.
Many profit-motivated businesses will use toxic recycled materials to make cases, but recycled material cases are not only easy to break, making the phone old and yellow, and generally recycled materials will contain many impurities, emitting a pungent smell, which may be harmful to the human body. Therefore, the first choice in the purchase of protective cases is to ensure that it is in the formal manufacturers to buy, so that the original material will have similar protection, followed by the first choice should be silicone material or silicon-based elastomer mobile phone cover, because the food-grade material is safe for human non-toxic harmless, and the excellent performance of the material can well protect the phone, the price is also relatively low, a variety of styles, rich patterns, can meet the needs of different customer groups The price is also relatively low, with a variety of styles and patterns to meet the needs of different customer groups.
(1), different flexibility
The flexibility of the protective case mainly refers to the nature of the protective case is not easy to break after the deformation of the force. The flexibility of protective cases can be said to be the biggest difference between silicone, TPU and PC materials in terms of appearance and feel.
1, silicone cover is very soft, silicone material protective cover generally soft texture, and good tension, but feels slightly slippery, if the silicone inside the high-tension material is added too little then it is easy to be pulled off, how to know its high tension it? Pull the product with hand light strength, if the product has the phenomenon of turning white, then the high tension is too little, if pulling a little white or no white phenomenon is a qualified product.
2, TPU protective cover soft and hard moderate, TPU soft and hard qualities between rubber and plastic, TPU hardness range is quite wide, by changing the ratio of the TPU reaction components, you can get the different hardness of the product, and with the increase in hardness, its products still maintain good elasticity and wear resistance. The well-known wear resistance, tear resistance, and flexural strength are excellent; high tensile strength, high elongation, low long-term compression permanent deformation rate, etc. are the significant advantages of TPU.
3, PC protective shell toughness is very strong, PC (polycarbonate) itself is a strong thermoplastic resin, PC material impact resistance, strength, and toughness is very good, whether heavy pressure or general drop, as long as you are not trying to hit it with a stone, it is long enough to live, while the transparency is also high but its appearance is more easily scratched.
(2), the forming process is different
After selecting the raw materials, you have to start making the molds. Making molds is what we usually call opening molds, which is the toolset that forms the product design. Good molds are often used in the production process is more complex, and the use of machinery is generally more expensive and advanced, (a good slow-walking wire-cutting machine is more than 1 million), therefore, the accuracy of the production of the mold is also very high. Some protective covers look very delicate, but in fact, apart from the clever design of the cover itself, it also depends on the production process of the mold. Due to the different raw materials, the molding process of each protective cover is also different.
1, vulcanization molding products, silicone molding process with vulcanization molding, this process is the use of hydraulic press temperature and pressure, with the help of the mold to vulcanize the product molding out. This process is relatively low cost, and high yield and the application is more common. It is mostly used for single-color silicone products. It can also be used for two-colour, two-hardness products or multi-color, multi-hardness products, but the structure of the product is not flexible and is limited. The silicone mold is an up-and-down mold, where the silicone raw material is cut and placed inside the mold, then heated and pressurized to make the product.
2, TPU injection molding, TPU belongs to the plastic category, the product is made by an injection molding process, that is, a grain of plastic rice melting after heating, with a gun barrel shot into the plastic mold and made products.
3, PC material hard shell, PC material shell has three processes, vacuum plating process: plating on the PC shell, plating after carving some patterns, the texture is good, but after the vacuum plating to a UV varnish.
PC spraying process: you can spray the feel of rubber oil, this feel also has a lot of people like, and then a little more complex is in the colored (transparent red, transparent blue, transparent yellow, etc.) transparent PC shell spray a layer of primer, and then laser engraved some patterns, and finally over a rubber paint, this product looks very high-grade.
PC water transfer heat transfer process: in the PC shell do some transfer on the pattern, and then spray UV varnish, or have a soft feel of the rubber oil. After the transfer of the spray UV varnish, hand pinch, the surface of the UV varnish is easier to crack, so the best choice for the transfer process is to spray rubber oil, a soft feel, matte surface, do a good job of the process, will also look very high-grade. The disadvantage is that the surface is not scratch-resistant, and if a certain part of the paint falls off, it is easy to shed more and more paint along the place where it fell off. The advantage of transfer printing is that the pattern is very rich in color.
(3), different transparency
Silicone, TPU, and PC three another more obvious difference is transparency, we will look at the following silicone, TPU, and PC three which is the most breathable.
Translucent silicone cases
From the outside, TPU can be made very transparent, silicone can not, and the most transparent are very hazy like a thick fog kind of feeling. It is because of this transparent feeling of TPU that it is now more popular among users. TPU products are also a lot of high-grade, more selective, and have more pattern changes than silicone. Silicone, on the other hand, is less breathable and can easily lead to heat build-up in the body of the phone in the long term. It is not recommended for users of smartphones with high heat generation.
Polycarbonate (PC) material has a good light transmission
PC cases, PC cases are also very transparent and come in a variety of colors such as transparent black and transparent blue. However, the high transparency of the PC protective case production process requirements is relatively high, and translucent PC shells or more common.
(4), wear resistance is different
The main purpose of buying a protective case is to protect the phone or tablet, if a protective case shell is easy to wear, will certainly quite affect the mood, and may also cause a certain degree of wear and tear on the phone itself, we look at the abrasion resistance of silicone, TPU and PC material.
What are the different PC, TPU products, and silicone products?
1, silicone material protective shell wear resistance is better
In the process of use, silicone, TPU and PC are three different materials of the protective case wear resistance or some differences, silicone material case is generally thicker quality, using environmentally friendly silicone material, has strong abrasion resistance, in a collision, there is a better buffering effect, not easy to damage the love machine and its appearance.
2, TPU material protective case wear resistance is superb
TPU material in the three materials is super wear-resistant, excellent wear resistance, and resistant to yellowing making the advantages of this material very prominent.
3, PC shell easy to scratch
PC material has many advantages, but the main performance defects are not high enough hydrolysis stability, sensitivity to the gap, resistance to organic chemicals, scratch resistance is poor, and long-term exposure to ultraviolet light will be yellowing. As with other resins, PC is susceptible to impregnation by certain organic solvents.
In summary: On balance, the physical properties of TPU materials are relatively outstanding, but each type of protective case also has its own advantages. The main features of TPU are low viscosity, good flex resistance, excellent abrasion resistance, and high gloss; the main features of PC are high transparency and free coloring, excellent flexibility, and thinness. These three materials have their own characteristics, you can choose according to your own preferences, like the soft choice of silicone, like the hard choice of PC material, like low elasticity with TPU, of course, the most important thing is to choose a safe, regular manufacturers of protective cases/cases, not to be greedy for cheap to buy poor quality protective cover.
As users’ tastes become more and more discerning, many accessory manufacturers have started to innovate in case materials and have begun to use composite materials to produce cases, such as PC for the shell and TPU for the sides, or silicone for the inner layer, using composite materials will not only make the case more sturdy but will also make it feel a lot better.
If you are interested in those products or have any questions about PC, TPU products, and silicone products, welcome to contact us, thanks in advance.