The Different Materials of Plastic Office Chairs

Wood VS Metal VS Plastic Chairs

In China furniture industry,the main materials for chairs are wood, metal and plastic.

☞ The wooden chair is traditional with a classic style.

☞ The metal chair is modern but with a cold style.

☞ Compared with wooden and metal chair, the plastic chair is colorful, gorgeous and full of vitality.

What is more, the plastic chair has the following advantages:

+ lightweight, easy to move

+ price advantages

+ durability

+ corrosion resistance

In this article, we will combine years of injection molding experience and background knowledge of plastics to analyze the material composition and structure of plastic office chairs for you. So you can learn about what can be made into a nice and durable plastic office chair — the Plastic Materials.

Analysis on the Materials of Plastic Office Chairs

ABS ,PU, PVC, PP and PA

But in the market there are many kinds of plastic office chairs, such as ABS, PU, PVC, PP and PA. Different plastic materials have different advantages, and are used for the different chair parts.

Next, we will introduce the different plastic materials including their characteristics and applications on the chair parts.

PU

PU is soft, commonly used in the anti-static chairs and office chair arm pads.

3D Armrest N509+ND017-1

Material: PU

PVC vs ABS

PVC and ABS are hard, but PVC is not so wear resistant and weather resistant.

PA vs PP

In general, injection moulding materials PA and PP are more used in office chairs, such as office back frame, five-star base and armrest. But the quality of these 2 materials is different because of their characteristics.

PA

PA (polyamide) is commonly known as nylon. It is with the largest output, the most variety, and the most versatile among the five major engineering plastics. Polyamide is a general term for polymers containing amide groups in the repetitive units of the main chain of macromolecules.

Characteristics of PA:

PA has good comprehensive properties, including mechanical properties, heat resistance, wear resistance, chemical resistance and self-lubrication.
It has low friction coefficient, certain flame retardancy and easy processing.
It is suitable for filling and reinforcing modification with glass fibers and other fillers, improving performance and expanding application range.

Varieties of PA:

There are many varieties of PA, such as PA6, PA66, PAll, PAl2, PA46, PA610, PA612, PAl010, and new semi-aromatic nylon PA6T and special nylon developed in recent years.

Applications on office chair

Modified nylon PA6/PA66 is usually used to make office chair parts like nylon chair bases. Compared with PP, it has wear resistance, corrosion resistance, weather ability, stiffness, oxidation resistance and long service life. Therefore, it is more popular with office furniture manufacturers.

PP

PP (polypropylene) is a thermoplastic resin prepared by polymerization of propylene. It is a non-toxic, odorless and tasteless milky white high crystalline polymer. Besides, it is with a density of only 0.90 – “0.91g/cm3”, which is one of the lightest varieties of all plastics at present.

Characteristics of PP:

Low water absorptionand light weight. Its water absorption is only 0.01% and its molecular weight is about 81.15 million.
It has good form-ability, but because of its high shrinkage (1%~2.5%), thick-walled products are prone to depression. For some parts with high dimensional accuracy, it is difficult to meet the requirements.
The products have good surface gloss.
Co-polymerPP has lower thermal deformation temperature (100 C), low transparency, low gloss and low rigidity, but has stronger impact strength. In addition, the impact strength of PP increases with the increase of ethylene content.
The Vicat softening temperature of PP is 150 C. Because of its high crystallinity, the surface stiffness and scratch resistance of this material are very good. There is no environmental stress cracking in PP.

In conclusion

Most of plastic office chairs are made of different types of plastics with a pair of PU arms, a Nylon chair base and so on.