What materials are used to make plastic toys?

There are a lot of raw materials for plastic toys, such as ABS, PVC, PP, PC, PE, EVA, PU, etc., which will be used more or less. Do you know the difference?

01, ABS

ABS is the main material for inserting building blocks. The three letters stand for "acrylonitrile, butadiene, and styrene".

The main reason why ABS is used for inserting building blocks is its good dimensional stability, and the toys made can maintain the same height and height. At the same time, ABS has high hardness and toughness, even at low temperatures, it will not become brittle (low temperature resistance-40°). And it is resistant to fall and wear.

In general, ABS is non-toxic, harmless, high temperature, low temperature and corrosion resistant, but it does not mean that it can be scalded with boiling water.

Take Lego as an example. Although Lego is okay in an environment of minus 40°—110°, if it is cleaned with boiling water, it will occasionally smell, and even some bottom plates will be deformed. In addition to building blocks, some models (such as Gundam, Transformers, plastic dolls, etc.), automobiles (inertial pull-back cars, electric cars, riding strollers), and crawling plastic toys will all use ABS, the purpose is to prevent break.

02, PVC

PVC can be hard or soft. Hard water pipes, such as infusion pipes and slippers, can be made of PVC.

PVC is the most widely used material for plastic toys. Most (except for balls) toys that need to be inflated are made of PVC, such as jumping horses and balloons. Animal models (in the category of children’s toys) that have both soft and hard feel will basically use PVC as the main material.

Toys made of PVC material cannot be disinfected with boiling water. It is OK to disinfect them directly with toy cleaner, or just wipe with a cloth dipped in soapy water.

03, PP

Compared with the above two materials, PP has the advantage that it can be put into a microwave oven. Therefore, it is often used as a container to hold food, oil, condiments, etc., such as lunch boxes and fresh-keeping boxes. In toys, PP materials are mainly used in small toys such as teethers and rattles. Firstly, they can be imported, and secondly, they can be sterilized in high-temperature water.

04, PC

Before 2011, PC milk bottles were popular all over the world, but they were later banned. The reason for the ban is that the PC material contains bisphenol A (BPA). The European Union believes that BPA can induce precocious puberty, cause endocrine disorders, and threaten the health of fetuses and children, so it is banned. In the same way, PC toys may also contain BPA. There are similar toys on the market, but they are all very inexpensive ones.

05, PE

There are also many types of PE. The soft ones are mainly used for film products, such as food cling film and plastic bags; the hard ones are suitable for one-shot injection molding products and hollow products. Specifically in the application of toys, PE is most typically used to make rocking horses and slides, which need to be formed at one time, and at the same time there are hollow medium and large toys: For the safety of babies, medium and large toys should be molded at one time and assembled. This is relatively prone to accidents. In addition, the mainstream baby crawling mats (floor mats) sold in the domestic market are basically PE and EVA.

06, EVA

In 2015, CCTV's "Weekly Quality Report" broadcasted the topic "Poison Floor Mats". Since then, EVA floor mats have disappeared. In fact, the two materials used to make crawling mats, PE and EVA, are environmentally friendly and non-toxic, and harmless to human health.

In fact, the mat contains formamide (a toxic substance) and it has nothing to do with the material itself, but is related to the additives in the production process. PE floor mats did not detect excessive formamide, and 86.8% of EVA floor mats detected excessive formamide. This is because many EVA production materials are recycled materials, which leads to excessive formamide.

In addition to the flammability performance, CCTV also conducted on-site tests. PE material burns much faster than EVA material, which poses a safety hazard. So from a safety point of view, the arrangement of buying floor mats should be: new material EVA>new material PE>recycled material EVA

07, PU

PU should be the most familiar to everyone. I often hear PU leather bags or leather jackets.

In recent years, the popular Haitao gutta-percha Manhattan ball, the small tube on it is made of PU. Therefore, the Manhattan ball cannot be sterilized by high temperature, it can only be slightly cleaned with warm water.

08, TPR and silica gel

Strictly speaking, TPR and silica gel are neither plastic nor rubber.

The application of TPR (commonly called TPE) in toys is mainly used in balls, such as crystal pinballs, hole balls, Oball balls, etc. In addition, TPR is also useful in teethers, but it cannot be boiled in boiling water.

Silicone material is more expensive than TPR and other plastic materials, so it can only be used on small toys. The characteristics of silica gel are high temperature resistance (-40° to 230°), and it can be boiled in boiling water, and it can also be used in dishwashers and microwave ovens. Therefore, in recent years, silica gel has gradually become the main material of gutta percha. It should be noted that many sellers of TPR gutta-perchas claim that they are medical silica gel. This is completely deceptive. Silicone gutta-perchas can be sterilized in various ways, but TPR cannot be sterilized by high temperature.