Thermoplastic Dip PE Coating for Refrigerator Shelves Basket

The Definition Of Plastic PE Coating For Refrigerator Shelves

Purposes of the process

• Corrosion prevention: Refrigerator shelves are prone to contact with moisture, food residues and so on. The plastic dipping layer can effectively prevent the shelves from rusting and being corroded, thus prolonging their service life.
• Aesthetics improvement: It can provide a variety of color options for refrigerator shelves, making the inside of the refrigerator look more harmonious and beautiful and enhancing the overall appearance quality of the product.
• Easy cleaning: The surface after plastic dipping is relatively smooth, making it less likely for stains to adhere and easier to clean.

Plastic dipping process

1. Pre-treatment: Clean the shelves to remove oil stains, rust and other impurities. For example, use the chemical degreasing method, clean with an alkaline solution, and then perform acid pickling to remove rust to ensure that the surface is clean and lay a good foundation for plastic dipping.
2. Preheating: Heat the treated shelves to an appropriate temperature, usually between 150 – 350 °C, so that the shelves can better absorb the plastic dipping materials when dipped.
3. Plastic dipping operation: Put the preheated shelves into the polyethylene PE plastic powder to make the surface evenly covered with powder materials. The plastic powder will form a coating on the surface of the shelves.
4. Plasticizing and curing: The shelves after plastic dipping need to undergo high-temperature plasticizing and curing to make the plastic layer adhere and set better. The temperature is usually around 180 – 220 °C, and the time depends on the size of the shelves.
5. Cooling: Finally, cool the shelves to make the plastic layer completely fixed.

Quality standards

1. Appearance: The plastic layer should be uniform and complete, without bubbles, pinholes, peeling and other defects, and the color should meet the requirements.
2. Adhesion: There should be good adhesion between the plastic layer and the shelves, and it will not fall off easily under normal use conditions.
3. Thickness: The thickness of the plastic layer generally needs to meet certain standards. If it is too thin, it may not be able to play a good role in protection and decoration. If it is too thick, it may affect the dimensional accuracy of the shelves.

The Cost of Plastic Dip Coating for Refrigerator Shelves

The costs of plastic dip coating for refrigerator shelves mainly include the following aspects:

Material Costs

Plastic dip coating powder is the main material. Taking the PE plastic dip coating powder specially used for refrigerators as an example, the market price is generally between 2.4 and 2.6 USD per kilogram. The prices of plastic dip coating powders from different manufacturers and with different qualities will fluctuate. The amount of powder used for plastic dip coating of refrigerator shelves varies depending on the size and thickness requirements of the shelves. For an ordinary refrigerator shelf, approximately 0.1 – 0.2 kilograms of plastic dip coating powder is needed, and the material cost is about 0.25 – 0.5 USD.

Equipment and Energy Consumption Costs

There are various types of plastic dip coating equipment, such as manual, semi-automatic, and assembly line types, with prices ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan. Taking a small semi-automatic plastic dip coating machine as an example, the price is about 10,000 – 20,000 US dollars. The energy consumption during the production process is mainly electricity or gas. Certain energy is consumed in processes such as pre-baking and curing. Taking electric heating as an example, it consumes about 10 – 20 kilowatt-hours of electricity per hour. Calculated at an industrial electricity price of 0.15 US dollars per kilowatt-hour, the energy consumption cost for each plastic dip coating production is about 1.43 – 2.86 US dollars.

Labor Costs

Manual plastic dip coating requires more manual operations, while semi-automatic and assembly line plastic dip coating involve relatively less human participation. If manual plastic dip coating is adopted, a skilled worker can dip coat 100 – 200 shelves a day. Calculated with a monthly salary of 500 – 700 US dollars, the labor cost apportioned to each shelf is about 0.072 – 0.15 US dollars. If semi-automatic or assembly line plastic dip coating is adopted, the labor cost will be reduced, and it is about 0.03 – 0.072 US dollars apportioned to each shelf.

Other Costs

This includes equipment maintenance fees, site rent, management fees, etc. These costs apportioned to each refrigerator shelf are about 0.15 – 0.29 US dollars.

In conclusion, the total cost of plastic dip PE coating for refrigerator shelves is approximately 0.72 – 1.45 US dollars. The above data are roughly calculated based on the Chinese market and are for reference only.