In the tool manufacturing industry, the quality of tool handles directly affects users’ experience and the market competitiveness of the tools. Selecting the right material is crucial for producing high-quality tool handles. Recently, we successfully developed and applied a TPE-modified material—model ZB50-GJBS—to a customer’s tool-handle products, earning the customer’s recognition thanks to its outstanding performance.

 

Material Property Analysis

ZB50-GJBS is an economical TPE-modified material characterized by rapid molding and excellent hand feel. From a material property perspective, it exhibits high flowability, with a melt index of 21 g/10 min at 190℃ under a load of 2.16 kg. When combined with injection molding conditions at 200℃, it enables fast molding, significantly boosting production efficiency. It also boasts superior weather resistance, making it suitable for various application environments and ensuring the stability of tool handles under all kinds of conditions. Its specific gravity is 1.18 g/cm³, meeting the lightweight requirements for tool handles. Its hardness ranges between 55 and 57 Shore A, providing a comfortable hand feel and easy grip. The tensile strength reaches 2 MPa, with an elongation at break of 300% and a tear strength of 14 kN/m, demonstrating good mechanical performance that fully satisfies the usage requirements for tool handles. Additionally, it can be overmolded onto PP or PE, giving it a wide range of applications.

Customer Requirements and Project Background

This customer primarily manufactures tool handles, and its products are produced using a single-molding process. The customer’s core requirements are clear: first, they need cost-effective, economical materials to keep production costs under control and enhance market competitiveness; second, they demand that the product surface feel comfortable to the touch, thereby improving the user experience. Prior to this, the customer has been searching for a material that could simultaneously meet both of these requirements, but has consistently failed to find a suitable solution.

 

Material Import and Testing Process

In the early stage of the project, based on the customer’s requirements for separately molded tool handles as well as low cost and comfortable hand feel, we initially recommended the EN50A-01 material. This material meets the customer’s basic requirements in terms of hand feel and molding performance. However, due to its relatively high price, it did not align with the customer’s positioning of an economical material. Considering the long-term cost pressures associated with production, the customer ultimately decided not to select this material.

Subsequently, we adjusted our recommendation strategy and provided the customer with a trial sample of the ZN50A material. The trial results showed that although this material had lower costs, its surface finish was unsatisfactory, exhibiting issues such as roughness and insufficient glossiness. As a result, it failed to meet the customer’s requirements for both the product’s appearance and feel, and the trial sample did not pass inspection.

Based on the lessons learned from the previous two trial batches, we conducted an in-depth analysis of the alignment between customer requirements and material properties, ultimately recommending the ZB50-GJBS model. This material not only offers an economical price, meeting the customer’s demand for low costs, but its formulation design also ensures a fine surface texture that provides a comfortable hand feel. Meanwhile, its high fluidity and suitable molding conditions guarantee both efficiency and quality when molded independently. After conducting trial runs, the customer expressed great satisfaction with the product’s cost, surface feel, and molding performance, confirming that this material fully meets their production requirements.

 

Project Outcomes and Value

The successful introduction of the ZB50-GJBS material has addressed a critical issue for our customer. On one hand, it meets the customer’s demand for low-cost, cost-effective materials, effectively reducing production costs and enhancing the product’s market competitiveness. On the other hand, it ensures that the tool handle surface provides a comfortable tactile feel, thereby improving the user experience. Moreover, the material’s rapid molding capability further boosts the customer’s production efficiency. This case clearly demonstrates the application value of ZB50-GJBS in areas such as tool handles, providing valuable reference for material selection in similar products.