PBT (Polybutylene Terephthalate) has certain applications in air fryers. PBT is a crystalline thermoplastic polyester, featuring high heat resistance, toughness, fatigue resistance, self-lubrication, and a low friction coefficient. Some of its characteristics make it suitable for certain components of air fryers, such as: - High heat resistance: It can withstand the high-temperature environment inside the air fryer. - Good mechanical strength: It helps ensure the stability and reliability of components during use. - Easy injection molding: It is convenient for processing into various shapes of components. Some special materials for air fryer components adopt a material of PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) + 30% glass fiber reinforced PBT. This material has advantages such as good toughness, high impact strength, high fluidity, easy injection molding, high temperature resistance (able to withstand oven baking at 210°C - 230°C), high strength, and dimensional stability, which can meet the material performance requirements of air fryers. However, the selection of specific components for air fryers is also influenced by various factors, including cost, specific design requirements, and product performance demands. Different manufacturers and models of air fryers may choose the most suitable materials based on their own circumstances. In practical applications, PBT materials may be used in internal structural components, shells, and other parts of air fryers. But it should be noted that PBT also has some disadvantages, such as low notch impact strength and large molding shrinkage rate. Therefore, methods such as glass fiber reinforcement or inorganic filling modification are usually adopted to improve its performance. At the same time, the specific application of PBT materials also needs to follow relevant production standards and safety regulations to ensure the quality and safe use of air fryers. The development trend of PBT materials in the air fryer industry may present the following characteristics: 1. **Increased demand for high-end modified products**: With the improvement of people's requirements for the performance and quality of air fryers, high-end modified PBT products with more excellent performance may become the development direction. For example, modified PBT materials with better performances in aspects such as strength, heat resistance, and flame retardancy can meet the needs of air fryers in different usage scenarios. China is gradually transforming from a manufacturing powerhouse to a manufacturing power, and the usage of engineering plastics and modified plastics will further increase, which will bring excellent business opportunities and broad application prospects for PBT. Moreover, China needs to import a certain amount of high-end modified PBT every year to meet the demand. Therefore, accelerating the research and development of high-end modified products is one of the main directions for the future development of the PBT industry. 2. **Great export potential**: PBT plants in some foreign regions have suspended production due to factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme weather, resulting in tight supply. This has brought opportunities for the export of domestic PBT materials. Compared with foreign manufacturers, domestic production of PBT has a relatively obvious cost advantage, providing a certain guarantee for its export. 3. **Integration production trend**: PBT production and equipment technologies are constantly developing, and the production scale is gradually becoming larger. Small-capacity production lines without cost advantages may be gradually eliminated. The production capacity within the industry may be concentrated in leading enterprises, and enterprises with the integrated production capacity of the upstream and downstream industrial chain will have more competitive advantages. From the perspective of the air fryer industry, its market size is expected to maintain a growth trend. Consumers' demand for healthy and convenient cooking methods will continue to drive the development of air fryers. And some characteristics of PBT materials themselves, such as good mechanical properties, heat aging resistance, and molding processability, give it certain advantages in the manufacturing of air fryer components. In order to adapt to the development needs of the air fryer industry, PBT materials may continuously carry out technological improvements and innovations to enhance performance, reduce costs, and meet requirements in terms of environmental protection, etc. To improve the application performance of PBT materials in the air fryer industry, the following aspects can be considered: 1. **Reinforcement modification**: By adding reinforcing materials such as glass fibers, the tensile strength, bending strength, and heat resistance of PBT can be significantly improved. For example, using 30% glass fiber reinforced PBT material. But excessive addition of glass fibers may cause the material to become brittle, and a suitable proportion needs to be found. 2. **Blending modification**: Blending PBT with other high-impact strength materials or modifiers, and utilizing the partial compatibility of the two components or the appropriate interfacial bonding effect to improve the notch impact performance of PBT. For example, adding the reactive compatibilizer POE-g-GMA to strengthen the interfacial force to achieve the toughening effect. 3. **Optimizing fluidity**: Selecting low-molecular-weight PBT or adding low-molecular polyester of the same type with a specific structure (such as CBT) can improve the fluidity of the material. CBT has good compatibility with PBT and can significantly improve the fluidity of the resin while hardly affecting the mechanical properties. In addition, adding nanomaterials may also help improve the fluidity, but the dispersion problem of nano-fillers needs to be solved. 4. **Reducing warpage**: Adding mineral fillers to reduce the anisotropy caused by the orientation of glass fibers by utilizing their shape symmetry; or adding amorphous materials to reduce the crystallinity of PBT and reduce the uneven shrinkage caused by crystallization. At the same time, adjusting the injection molding process, appropriately increasing the mold temperature and increasing the injection molding cycle can also help improve the warpage problem. 5. **Improving surface fiber exposure**: Selecting PBT materials with better compatibility with glass fibers, or adding appropriate additives to improve the bonding of glass fibers and the resin matrix; optimizing the shear force during the injection molding process to avoid damage to the interface layer on the surface of glass fibers. 6. **Improving flame retardancy**: PBT itself has a certain degree of flame retardancy, but it usually needs to be further improved to meet the safety requirements of air fryers. Halogen-free flame retardants can be added, such as the inorganic compound zirconium phosphate, which has a large specific surface area and solid acid catalytic function, has efficient adsorption and catalytic effects on smoke, and has good thermal stability. It can act as a heat insulation barrier, improve the thermal stability of the carbon layer, and exhibit excellent flame retardancy and smoke suppression effects. 7. **Strictly controlling moisture**: PBT materials are prone to decomposition when encountering water at high temperatures. Sufficient drying is required before injection molding to reduce the moisture content to below 0.02% to avoid decomposition and brittleness of the material. The recommended drying conditions are drying at 120°C in the air for 6 - 8 hours, or drying at 150°C for 2 - 4 hours; if a moisture-absorbing dryer is used, it can be dried at 150°C for 2.5 hours. 8. **Reasonable design of products and molds**: The design of products should avoid uneven wall thickness, and arc connections should be used at transitions such as right angles. Mold design should consider good exhaust, the rationality of the gate shape and position to ensure uniform melt flow and reduce internal stress. 9. **Selecting appropriate additives**: According to specific needs, add appropriate additives, such as toughening agents (POE, TPU, EPDM, etc.), nucleating agents, etc. Nucleating agents can increase the crystallinity and thereby improve the toughness and other related properties of the product. 10. **Adjusting injection molding process parameters**: Including injection molding temperature (225 - 275°C), injection pressure (medium, up to a maximum of 1500 bar), injection speed (as fast as possible), etc., to ensure the filling effect of the material and the quality of the product. At the same time, it is necessary to avoid the barrel temperature exceeding 275°C or the melt staying in the barrel for too long to prevent material decomposition. In addition, cooperation with material suppliers can also be carried out to jointly develop high-performance PBT materials for air fryer applications, and conduct targeted tests and improvements in combination with the specific usage requirements and working environment of air fryers.