What is Panel Edge Banding?
The edge banding materials (PVC / ABS / PP / PMMA veneer, solid wood strips and HPL, etc.) are bonded to the edge of the board through an edge banding machine to achieve the purpose of decoration and protection, which is edge banding. According to different process equipment, it is divided into manual edge banding, machining center edge banding, linear edge banding and soft forming edge banding.
What is A Premium Edge Banding?
1. Impeccable appearance quality: the glue line is thin, the color of the glue line is consistent with the board surface and the edge band, the board surface is clean, there is no glue residue, and the edge band is flat and uneven;
2. Qualified bond strength: peeling force 60-120 N/18mm, the material breakage rate should be taken into account;
3. Durable resistance: resistance to cold and heat cycles, heat resistance, water resistance, solvent resistance, and weather resistance.
Conditions for high-quality edge banding ?
High-quality plates and high-quality edge-banding materials are used to complete high-quality edge-banding in suitable climate and qualified equipment.
Second, the current mainstream edge banding methods and edge banding equipment on the market
Hot-melt adhesive edge banding: Through professional sol equipment, the hot-melt adhesive is melted and evenly spread on the board, and then undergoes a physical or chemical reaction with the edge banding material to form a certain tensile rubber nail inside the board, so as to realize the The perfect combination of edgebanding.
Laser edge banding: The laser aggregates the high-energy laser beam onto the laser edge-sealing tape through a mirror that swings back and forth. The high-energy laser quickly melts the functional layer of the edge-sealing tape, and then presses the edge-band through the pressing wheel mechanism. On the workpiece, it goes through the processes of truncation, preliminary repair, finishing, tracking and rounding, etc., so as to achieve the purpose of edge banding. Therefore, laser edge banding requires a laser edge banding machine and a laser edge banding belt.
Except for the way of gluing different between laser edge banding and hot melt adhesive edge banding (the laser melting functional layer is tentatively regarded as a special gluing method), the rest of the working units are similar.
At present, edge banding equipment on the market is divided into manual edge banding machine, automatic edge banding machine, linear edge banding machine, bevel edge banding machine, curve edge banding machine, hot melt adhesive edge banding machine, laser edge banding machine, etc. according to different functions. .
Analysis of The Market Prospect of Edge Banding
With the continuous development of the furniture industry and the continuous improvement of people's quality of life, consumers have higher expectations for environmental protection and product quality. Consumer demand for furniture has changed from quantitative to qualitative changes. The decline of traditional civilian furniture and the rise of whole-house custom furniture are the inevitable trend of market supply and demand and industrial development.
For consumers, any high-level concept is just a brainstorm. Practically speaking, when buying furniture, the edge-sealing effect of furniture is visible to the naked eye, which is the most intuitive and easy cognition; and the high-end materials advocated by merchants are just an abstract term, which is difficult to realize in consumers' hearts. Long-term waves, and the quality of edge banding, can bring consumers an intuitive experience for a long time.
Diamond cut edge banding and six-sided seamless edge banding are recent new trends in the field of edge banding technology, both of which have brought edge banding quality to a whole new level. So what is a diamond cut edge banding ? What is six-sided seamless edge banding? Simply put, diamond cutting edge banding is to perform synchronous line cutting on the edge band during edge banding processing to achieve the purpose of diamond lines, thereby achieving the perfect impact of edge banding vision. The six-sided seamless edge banding is another way of saying laser edge banding: there is no edge banding trace, no glue line, and the edge banding is perfect. In short, these concepts are the elaboration and embodiment of perfect edge banding.
The market has such high expectations for edge banding, so how do tens of thousands of furniture manufacturers around the world adapt to this almost demanding requirement? The answer is to continuously improve the process, improve the equipment, and improve the technology.
However, the improvement of the process and the improvement of technology need to be precipitated, and each production enterprise needs to explore or learn from it for many years. What is more challenging is that the improvement of equipment requires a lot of investment, such as laser edge banding machines. In the current fiercely competitive market environment, who can guarantee that the huge investment will not go to waste?
In the face of such a competitive and uncertain future, most of the furniture companies that have developed for decades around the world are still trying their best to go their own way. Although the technology of laser edge banding is very cutting-edge, the huge equipment investment, high cost of use and expensive after-sales maintenance are destined to face a more difficult situation - at least for a long time in the future. We can see the answer from the European and American markets that were decades ahead of us.
Here is a set of data:
1. The price of the laser edge banding machine is 2.8-5.2 million yuan per set, and the price of the laser edge banding belt is from 3 yuan to 5 yuan per meter;
2. There are more than 70 laser edge banding machines on the market in China, while there are more than one million ordinary edge banding machines, and laser edge banding machines account for less than 1/10,000;
3. In 2020, the total sales of laser edge banding machines will be less than 40 (already an astronomical figure). According to incomplete statistics, the annual sales volume of ordinary edge banding machines is not less than 30,000, and the sales of laser edge banding machines account for one thousandth of the total. one.
These data tell us: laser edge banding is not a wolf, it is just a tree in a large forest, a spray in the surging river.
To sum up, traditional hot melt adhesive edge banding still occupies an absolute position in the market. With the continuous progress of edge banding technology, equipment precision, glue and edge banding materials, traditional hot melt adhesive edge banding will be infinitely close to laser edge banding. High-quality PUR edging is now almost comparable to laser edging.
The Cost Comparison Analysis of Hot Melt Adhesive Edge Banding And Laser Edge Banding
We have already mentioned the huge investment in equipment for laser edge banding. Without depreciation of equipment, let's compare the cost of traditional EVA edge banding, PUR edge banding and laser edge banding. Take the most commonly used cabinet floor cabinet door panels on the market as an example.
Size: 600mm(L)*400mm(W)**18mm(H), the same plate is used for edge banding.
The average price of EVA: 15 yuan/kg; the average price of PUR: 65 yuan/kg; the average price of ABS edge banding for ordinary door panels is 1.5 yuan/meter; the average price of laser edge banding is 4 yuan/meter
Laser edge banding cost: 2 meters * 4 yuan/meter = 8 yuan
EVA edge banding cost: glue: 2 meters * 0.018 meters * 0.25 kg/square meter * 15 yuan = 0.135 yuan
Sideband: 2 meters * 1.5 yuan / meter = 3 yuan
A total of 3.135 yuan
PUR edge banding cost: glue: 2 meters * 0.018 meters * 0.15 kg/square meter * 65 yuan = 0.35 yuan
Sideband: 2 meters * 1.5 yuan / meter = 3 yuan
Total 3.335 yuan
(Note: The average amount of glue applied to EVA is 250g/㎡, and the average amount of glue applied to PUR is 150g/㎡)
Because the sales of door panels are priced per square meter, the costs of the three methods are:
Laser edge banding: 1/(0.4*0.6)*8 ≈ 33 yuan/㎡
EVA edge banding: 1/(0.4*0.6)*3.135 ≈13.06 yuan/㎡
PUR edge banding: 1/(0.4*0.6)*3.335 ≈13.896 yuan/㎡
As above, the cost of laser edge banding is much higher than that of hot melt adhesive. If coupled with high equipment depreciation, high equipment maintenance, and more severe conditions of use, it will make most furniture manufacturers prohibitive.
Here, some people may say: as domestic laser edge banding machines and domestic laser edge banding belts enter the international market, the cost of laser edge banding will drop significantly. But unfortunately, it takes time to explore and settle. Furthermore, as I mentioned before, ordinary hot melt adhesives, ordinary edge banding tapes, and ordinary edge banding processes are undoubtedly constantly improving. Moreover, I believe that the progress in this field will be faster than the research and development of domestic laser edge banding machines and domestic laser edge banding belts.