PETE / PET

Polyethylene Terephthalate

Characteristics

  • PET is clear, tough, and has good gas and moisture barrier properties, resistance to heat.
  • Commonly used in bottles and many food and non-food containers.
  • Stiffness, strength, toughness, ease of processing, and ease of forming.

Packaging Applications

  • Soft drink
  • Water
  • Sports drink
  • Beer
  • Mouthwash
  • Catsup and salad dressing bottles
  • Pickle, jelly and jam jars
  • Cosmetic bottles
HDPE

High Density Polyethylene

Characteristics

  • Unpigmented bottles are translucent, have good barrier properties and stiffness, and are well suited to packaging products with a short shelf life.
  • HDPE has good chemical resistance, it is used for packaging many household and industrial chemicals.
  • Pigmented HDPE bottles have better stress crack resistance than unpigmented HDPE bottles.

Packaging Applications

  • Liquid laundry detergent
  • Shampoo conditioner
  • Motor oil bottles
  • Milk and juice bottles
  • Yogurt and margarine tubs
V / PVC

Vinyl / Polyvinyl Chloride

Characteristics

  • Poor heat stability.
  • Molding and decomposition temperature range are similar.
  • Poor fluidity, poor molding appearance.
  • Corrosive to mold.
  • Most easy to burn and generate acid gas.
  • Good strength, electrical insulation and chemical resistance.
  • Can be softened after adding DOP.
  • Poor heat resistance.
  • High sp. Gravity (1.4) has burning resistance; good for printing
  • Different formula has different characteristics. Wide application range, low price, high impact to environment. Likely to decompose when molding temperature exceeds 190°C and emit corrosive gas of HCI.

Packaging Applications

  • Clear food and non-food packaging
LDPE

Low Density Polyethylene

Characteristics

  • High shrinkage, easy to bend and deform.
  • Need cooling time, poor molding yield.
  • Sink will occur to product, need forceful mold releasing.
  • Molding shrinkage is highly affected by mold temperature. Poor stability.
  • Good fluidity, good heat stability, but molecular orientation leads to distortion.
  • Lighter than water and soft.
  • Not heat resistance, adhesive printing.

Packaging Applications

  • Squeezable bottles (e.g. honey, mustard)
PP

Polypropylene

Characteristics

  • Low fluidity, flow mark appears if filling were poor, when pressure is not enough, easy to have dent, need high-pressure molding.
  • In optical use, transparency is a problem, when mixing with other material; care shall be given to decomposition.
  • Excellent in molding property, mechanical strength is better than PE.
  • Good water, chemical resistance and electrical insulation.
  • Easy to distort, deform and dent.
  • Adhesive, the lightest plastic.
  • Low Sp. Gravity (about 0.90), FDA grade, good transparency, no moisture absorption, low price, heat resistance and normal mechanical strength are poor, low foaming percentage, poor for printing.

Packaging Applications

  • Catsup bottles
  • Yogurt containers
  • Margarine tubs
  • Medicine bottles
PS

Polystyrene

Characteristics

  • Of Ethylene family, general plastic resin.
  • Good fluidity, good molding yield and molding property.
  • Easy to break, not good impact resistance.(GPPS)
  • Easy to trim.
  • Colorless, transparent, easy to be dyed, and good insulation.
  • Good in water resistance and chemical resistance.

Packaging Applications

  • Aspirin bottles
OTHER

Characteristics

Use of this code indicates that the package in question is made with a resin other than the six listed above, or is made of more than one resin listed above, and used in a multi-layer combination.

Packaging Applications

Dependent on resin or combination of resins

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