Mobile phone case, silicone, plastic, metal, what material is good?

Judging from the current market situation of mobile phone protective case, there are many kinds of materials, the most common ones are soft plastic (silicone, TPU), hard plastic (PC, ABS, PP), metal, leather case, and some special materials, such as carbon fiber, bamboo, wood and so on. I will give you a detailed introduction today, so that everyone can have a better choice when choosing a mobile phone case.

1. silica gel

At present, there are two kinds of silicone sleeves, one is silicone and the other is inorganic silicone. At present, the silicone rubber sleeves of digital products on the market basically belong to silicone rubber.

Silica gel belongs to rubber, and the molding process is vulcanization molding. The silicone mold is opened from top to bottom. Slice the silica gel raw material, put it into a mold, and heat and pressurize it to make the product. Generally, plastic products will have a glue inlet, and they should be trimmed after injection molding. Poor pruning will greatly affect the appearance. Silica gel has no glue inlet, but there is a circle of burrs around it that need to be repaired. If the mold is rubbish, the burr will be obvious, just like a dog eating it.

2.TPU plastic water jacket

Put the second one, because TPU is also soft. TPU is the abbreviation of thermoplastic polyurethane, and its Chinese name is thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer. People often say that "clear water sleeves" are made of TPU.

Many people can't figure out the difference between silicone and TPU, and even some sellers can't figure it out. The soft one is silicone. I'll explain it to you here.

Unlike silica gel, which belongs to rubber, TPU belongs to plastic, and the product is made by injection molding, that is, plastic rice is heated and melted, and then shot into a plastic mold with a gun barrel to make the product.

In terms of hand feeling, the hardness of TPU is generally harder than that of silicone, and the elasticity of hand kneading is strong, while the elasticity of silicone is slightly worse. TPU can be compared to the feeling of muscle, and silicone can be compared to the feeling of fat. From the outside, TPU can be made transparent, but silicone can't. The most transparent thing is the hazy feeling like dense fog. It is precisely because of this transparency of TPU that it is now more popular with users. Moreover, there are many high-grade TPU products with strong selectivity and more patterns than silica gel.

The disadvantage of TPU is that it is easy to deform and yellow. After three or four months of use, if you happen to buy a light-colored product such as transparent white, it is easy to yellow. If the material is not good, the surface may even be foggy or sticky. Bayer materials imported from Germany also have this problem, but it is relatively better.

3.PC materials

PC polycarbonate is a kind of thermoplastic engineering plastic. PC plastics have good toughness and light transmittance. The product can be made very thin. The thinnest protective case of iPhone4 is said to reach 0.5mm, and boasting less than 0.5 mm is basically fake. Pure PC plastic has pure transparent, transparent black, transparent blue and other colors, which are all very good.

By the way, introduce some PC shell processing technologies:

PC vacuum electroplating process: electroplating on PC shell, carving some patterns after electroplating, the texture is not bad, but after vacuum electroplating, it needs a UV varnish. If this process is not done well, it is easy to produce patterns similar to orange peel on the product. So, at first glance, this process is beautiful. Look carefully, few products will do well. Just like a star, it is very glorious on TV and movies, but it is just so-so when you watch it carefully.

PC spraying technology: rubber oil can be sprayed, which is also popular among many people. A little more complicated is to spray a layer of primer on colored (transparent red, transparent blue, transparent yellow, etc.). ) transparent PC shell, then laser carved some patterns, and finally a layer of rubber paint, so that this product looks very high-end.

PC water transfer thermal transfer process: do some transfer printing on the PC shell, and then spray UV varnish or rubber oil, which feels soft. After transfer printing, if you spray UV varnish, the UV varnish on the surface will crack easily when you pinch it with your hand. Therefore, the best transfer printing process is to spray rubber varnish, which feels soft and has a dull surface. A well-made craft will also look very high-end. The disadvantage is that the surface is not scratch resistant. If a part of the paint is dropped, it is easy to peel off more and more along the place where the paint is dropped. The advantage of transfer printing is that the pattern is rich in color.

4.ABS material

Pure ABS material is rarely used as protective sleeve (now it is generally used on luggage) because ABS material is hard and its strength is not as good as that of PC, but there is a new process called IML in-mold labeling process. At present, ABS plastic is basically used, and the surface material is PET. Because the melting temperature of PC plastic is too high, the color printed on PET will be washed away and become a painted face.

This technology only became popular in protective covers in the last two years. Its characteristic is that rich patterns can be made on the surface, which is the same as the advantages of transfer printing technology. There is also a better advantage that its pattern is generally finer than that of transfer printing, and its texture is very strong. If the surface of PET is made of hardened PET material, scratching it back and forth with fingernails with the richest calcium content will not scratch. Of course, not if it's made of inferior PET.

Therefore, in comparison, the quality of this in-mold IML injection process is generally higher than that of transfer printing, and the gloss of the bright surface is very strong. If IML is sprayed with hand-feel rubber oil, it is also a high-end product. You can make some products that imitate carbon fiber effect and three-dimensional effect, or products with tactile surface, and the color should be the richest in all categories. The disadvantage is that this kind of shell feels harder to install than PC. After landing, if you fall heavily, it will crack.

5.PP material

At present, it is non-mainstream, mainly because the technology is immature and there are many defects, because PP itself is a relatively cheap raw material, mainly because the injection molding performance is better. Some manufacturers don't have high-speed injection molding machines, and they want to make ultra-thin protective shells, so they choose this raw material. The defect of this product is that it is easy to deform, so it is not recommended to choose.

6. Leather

Good quality holsters are usually made of pigskin and cowhide. Leather covers are generally made of leather outer layer and PU inner layer, which can not only reduce the cost, but also achieve the visual effect of leather.

Leather case is also a very popular one. Compared with the silicone protective case with a slightly ordinary texture, business people who work hard in the workplace prefer to use a generous and decent leather case. Unlike young people who advocate individuality, holding a mobile phone with a slightly single appearance is very tasteless for them.

7. Metal materials

The texture of metal products is undoubtedly very good, and most of the products are of high grade, and the surface treatment technology is now very mature.

The disadvantage is that it is inconvenient to install. If it is a product installed with screws, be careful, because the metal material is usually aluminum alloy. No matter what aviation aluminum or other aluminum materials are called, screw holes are easy to slip.

A friend of the author bought an authentic brand product in Hong Kong for HK$ 500, which was made of cowhide. Of course, the texture and workmanship are very good. As a result, I accidentally fell to the ground and fell apart. Twist it again, it's all loose and the lock is not locked. It hurts! The conclusion is that the metal mobile phone case is useless and can't stand the wind and rain. It is a flower that grows in a greenhouse and fades easily. Advise careless friends to choose carefully.

8. Special materials

Carbon fiber. The protective shell made of real carbon fiber is hard and difficult to break by hand. I once did an experiment. I threw a protective shell of iPhone3 on the tile floor, crashed with a clash, and it was very fragile. I jumped a few times and stepped on it with my foot. Nothing, then stepped on it, nothing, then stepped on it, only cracked a small mouth and took it away.

But this hardness is not the strength of carbon fiber on the protective sleeve, but it is not good if it is too hard. Users who will choose this material mainly take a fancy to the crystal-clear three-dimensional effect of carbon fiber. Because carbon fiber needs to be polished after forming in the mold, there is no parting line on the surface, so it can be polished and thrown away. The quality of polishing is closely related to the skill and care of the production workers, and there are not many products that are really well done. The price is also very high.