Experiment § Meet UL94V-0, non-halogen, transparent epoxy resin
15 years ago, the company developed UL94V-0 epoxy resin as the packaging material for LED Christmas lights. According to customers, this application is the second UL-certified application in the world, and it has also been reported in newspapers (Figures 1~3: LED is ignited when there is a fire source, and the LED goes out when there is no fire source).As brominated flame retardants are not in line with the trend of environmental protection, we strive to develop new non-halogen flame retardant formulations. The difficulty in the development of this type of subject is that flame retardants are mostly powder-based systems and are insoluble in resin, so most of the finished products are not transparent. Another difficulty is that flame retardants can easily affect Tg, water absorption, and mechanical strength, and there are considerable bottlenecks in taking into account all properties. At present, our JC043 is an acid anhydride curing system, which is cured at 140℃/2hr and has high transparency. It has passed UL certification (Figure 4-7 is a microcosm of the UL94 test). The rapid curing system with mercaptan as the curing agent is also close to completion. The next stage will be to develop a curing system for amine curing agents at room temperature 80°C. I wonder what you think about our new materials? Welcome to write to us!
─Author: Miss Zi-Hui, Huang
Activity § Proposal improvement activities: waste of time waiting
The colleagues in the manufacturing department take 1 hour of classes every week. In addition to general labor safety, fire protection courses, machine teaching, and reading experience, we will also arrange for colleagues to transfer from external training to internal training. This year we spent a long time collecting the process actions of various production departments to find out where the "manufacturing waste" is and organize a group to discuss ways to improve. Unexpectedly, colleagues have found a lot of waste, and the biggest waste is "time" because we spend a lot of time "waiting." During the group discussion, everyone came up with many examples of how to adjust the work order to make more efficient use of time but everyone agrees that more effective communication before production can reduce waiting for inquiries and wrong repetitive work content, more flexible cooperation between departments, and everyone helping each other can further eliminate waiting time.
Knowledge § What are the characteristics of mercaptan curing agents?
When mercaptans (Mercaptan) and epoxy resins are combined with appropriate catalysts, the reaction speed is very fast. Regardless of the quality of the mixture, it can be initially cured in tens of seconds to minutes at room temperature, so it is used as a curing agent for low-temperature fast curing. This type of curing agent is often used in adhesive applications that require quick fixation, such as the common DIY 5-minute curing adhesive in hardware stores. The 5-minute curing actually refers to the initial curing. In addition to the maximum strength, the actual curing may take 3 to 7 days. The actual situation depends on the room temperature. Thiols have the following disadvantages due to their structure. The first point is that the price is high, the second point is that there is a peculiar smell, the third point is that the Tg is not high, the fourth point is that the chemical resistance is normal, and the fifth point is that it is easy to crust and must be stored properly.
Living § The undulating Hehuan west peak
In July this year, I climbed the North Peak of Hehuan with my colleagues. I was deeply attracted by the beautiful scenery and looked forward to the opportunity to walk again, but I didn't expect the opportunity to come soon. Last week, I heard from my colleagues that they would challenge Hehuan West Peak the next day. Of course I took the opportunity to walk with them. We first checked into the hotel in Wushe the night before, got up at 2 in the morning, and started at 3:40 from the mountain pass to the north peak (3422m). Thank God, let us see the beautiful sunrise at Beifeng. After taking a break and replenishing energy, at 06:10 we continued to move towards West Peak. Before departure, experienced colleagues helped us with psychological construction. We must have the patience to move forward step by step, and don't think that the next mountain is the end, otherwise the psychology will be greatly affected. As shown in the photo above, there are 7 hills to pass from North Peak to West Peak, and the path is not as smooth as climbing North Peak. Certain sections of the road are steep and even require ropes. A netizen said: "The steep slopes seem to never reach." But all the hard work is worth it, we arrived at the destination Hehuan West Peak at 10:00. Not to mention the beautiful scenery along the way, the West Peak is surrounded by famous high mountains, and the feeling of being left alone and independent is beyond words. We are very happy to achieve the goal, but the journey back at 10:30 is even more rigorous: on the way to the West Peak, there is a big steep drop behind the No. 2 and 3 hills. Although we were exhausted when we returned, we had to climb over, which was really frustrating. When I returned to Beifeng, my colleagues lay on the indicators and explained everything. In quite exhausted conditions, we returned to the mountain trail at 18:30. Although climbing a mountain is tiring, getting close to the beautiful mountains and forests, the accomplishments of walking through the mountain trails, and the warmth of people's mutual encouragement are all fond memories that never change. Of course I will go again next time!
─ Author: Mr Hong-Ting, Huang
