With the opening of the Winter Olympics, a panda wrapped in an ice crystal shell is on fire!
Whether offline or online, the ice pier pier of the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot has become the top stream of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the speed of light is out of the circle, "a pier is difficult to find", a number of related terms even rushed to the social media hot search, so that netizens collectively called "one household and one pier" and "should be piered".
At the same time, the hot-selling Winter Olympic licensed goods on the market, including ice pier (snow Rongrong) plush toys, styling handmade, ornament buckle, crystal ball, as well as ice pier blind box, badge (mascot sports modeling series, countdown series, folklore series), precious metals (opening ceremony countdown gold and silver bars, etc.) and other seven series are in short supply.
The layman looks at the bustle, and the "insider" looks at the doorway. The fire circle of the ice pier, in addition to the cute and cute shape, the delicate and soft "ice crystal" shell is also a full plus.
So what is the material of this shell?
Many people think that crystal clear should be glass, and some think it is plastic. In fact, it is not right, his shell is silicone glue.
Perhaps considering the Green Olympics, the coat of the ice pier is not plastic, but because the transparency of the ice pier product itself is extremely high, silicone has become the best "candidate".
Silicones are non-toxic and odorless, very stable in physical and chemical properties, insoluble in water and any solvent. For example, the rice cooker press rings used at home or some bottles are silicone products.
But for the first time in history, the Mascot of the Winter Olympics used a silicone shell.
The plush and cute red panda with a crystal clear coat, cute appearance and comfortable feel, this unique boutique, can win everyone's love is not so unexpected. Through the application of silicone in the Olympic mascot, it will further enhance the awareness of the general public, which is conducive to promoting the application of silicone in the field of daily necessities and toys.
Why does the shell of the ice pier turn yellow?
However, because of the silicone material used, it will slowly turn yellow over time, which has also been complained about by many people, but even so, it can't stop everyone's love for the ice pier!
Silicone rubber because of safety, processability and easy coloring, is an excellent raw material that can be applied to a variety of light industrial products, but after long-term use, the appearance of the surface "discoloration" phenomenon will occur, generally known as silicone rubber [yellow change]. In particular, translucent and white-hued products will be more pronounced. There are two reasons for this:
The first part is the reason for the raw materials. However, this is not the cause of the solid silicone rubber raw material itself, but the sulfur added during the hardening process of the silicone rubber and the impurity or additive of the solid silicone rubber raw material reacts, and this slow reaction is more obvious in the face of heat, or ultraviolet rays, or the length of time, and the overall deterioration of the raw material leads to the yellowing of the appearance color.
Second, silicone rubber is a porous raw material that belongs to the microscopic and the gap between molecules is relatively large. Therefore, if silicone rubber products come into close contact with plastics, petroleum synthetic rubber, lubricating oil, smoke, pharmaceuticals, other gases, etc., a certain degree of adsorption will occur, which will also lead to a certain degree of yellowing.
Although it is almost impossible to completely prevent the yellowing of the appearance of this silicone rubber product, it has almost no impact on physical properties such as pressure resistance, heat resistance, cold resistance, and insulation. In terms of countermeasures, if possible, we should try to use a series of silicone rubber raw materials that prevent yellowing, and the hardness of this raw material is generally 50 ° ~ 80 °.
So, for the mascot ice pier shell, how can we try to prevent the occurrence of yellowing? First of all, try to prevent the shell of the ice pier from approaching the heat source, but also to prevent direct sunlight or other light sources from close range, and then, try to stay away from smoke, plastic products, oil and other chemical substances, so that you can delay the occurrence of yellowing to the greatest extent.
If the shell of the ice pier accidentally changes yellowing, is there a way to restore it? If it is an external factor, such as being contaminated by food, oil, etc., then you can use household oxidative bleach to scrub an appropriate amount, which can restore some of the color. However, if it is because of the long-term deterioration of silicone rubber raw materials as a whole, then the possibility of restoring color is very small.
In fact, after long-term use of other plastic and rubber products, different degrees of deterioration and yellowing will also occur. Therefore, it is not surprising that the discoloration of the silicone rubber shell of the ice pier is not surprising, it can be said that the ice pier with a slight discoloration of the shell may be that he is growing, and it also proves his long-term companionship with you.
A pier is hard to find
Ice pier hot selling hopes detonation silicone material applications. According to the manufacturers related to the ice pier, the ice pier is assembled, which is divided into two parts: silicone shell and plush doll. The plush doll is simple to make, and the silicone shell used to make ice crystals is more difficult to produce, which is also the first time in the history of the Winter Olympic mascot to use a silicone shell. The analysis believes that silicone has very good performance and comfortable feel, through the application of the Olympic mascot, will further enhance the awareness of the general public on it, for the promotion of silicone in the field of daily necessities and toys has a very great significance, with the increase in silicone production capacity, its application in daily life will be more and more extensive, related areas of the company is expected to receive attention.
Compared with the common pure plush mascots in the past, the biggest feature of the ice pier is that it is assembled by two parts: a silicone shell and a plush panda doll, and the overall image resembles an astronaut. The shape of the head shell is taken from the ice and snow sports helmet, and the decorative color halo is inspired by the national speed skating hall of the Beijing Winter Olympics - "ice ribbon", and the national speed skating hall "ice ribbon" is supplied by silicone products supplied by Silicon Treasure Technology.
"According to the existing molds, about 800 are produced a day. Upstream customer Jinjiang Hengsheng placed an order for 200,000 sets, because the mold was limited, and only 30,000 sets were undertaken. Tomorrow (February 8), the plant will officially start production. On the afternoon of February 7, Li Yingui, head of Zhongsheng silicone, told the first financial reporter that more than 50,000 shells had been supplied years ago, and the raw materials for the production of ice piers were extremely scarce, and the 8th was chosen to start work because the raw materials had finally arrived.
Such a large size silicone shell. The transparency requirements of the ice pier product itself are extremely high, and it is very difficult in the silicone process, and the structural design of the mold, mold opening, mold trial, debugging, production, the production of ice ribbon, and the material of raw materials are a challenge.
The process of making the shell of the ice pier is also very complicated, first the mold should be washed and wiped, and then polished, and then the silicone is placed on the mold and sent to the machine for shaping. The process of demoulding should be very delicate and not damaged. After completion, it is also necessary to integrate the Olympic rings and rainbow strips into the product, and there are also very big technical challenges.
Due to the extreme shortage of raw materials for production, coupled with the very complicated production process, it has led to the current mascot # ice pier # a pier is difficult to find!
Article source: Shanghai and Shenzhen Finance Online, Chlor-alkali Frontier, Fragments of the Times