PET Plastic?
Natural PET is a transparent plastic with a glossy surface. It has all the advantages of glass – a strong, inert material that does not react with food. It resists attack by microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and parasites, and does not biodegrade even when exposed to excessive moisture and air for a long time.
Interestingly, unlike glass, PET is lighter, more durable, more affordable, and strong and shatterproof. These unique properties have made PET quickly become the world’s most popular packaging material, especially in the food and beverage sector.
Introduction
PET is divided into fiber-grade polyester chips and non-fiber-grade polyester chips.
①Fiber-grade polyester is used to make polyester staple fibers and polyester filaments, and is the raw material for polyester fiber companies to process fibers and related products. Polyester is the largest variety of chemical fibers.
②Non-fiber-grade polyester is also used in bottles, films, etc., and is widely used in packaging, electronics, medical and health, construction, automobiles and other fields. Packaging is the largest non-fiber application market for polyester, and it is also the fastest growing field for PET.
Advantages
1.It has good mechanical properties, the impact strength is 3 to 5 times that of other films, and it has good folding resistance.
2.It is resistant to oil, fat, dilute acid, dilute alkali, and most solvents.
3.The heat resistance of pure PET is not high, and the heat deformation temperature is only about 85℃, but it is greatly improved after reinforcement treatment. The mechanical properties of PET reinforced with glass fiber are similar to those of engineering plastics such as PC and PA, and the heat deformation temperature can reach 225℃; PET has good heat aging resistance, the brittle temperature is -70℃, and it still has certain toughness at -30℃; PET is not easy to burn, the flame is yellow, and the burning oil drips.
4.The gas and water vapor permeability is low, and it has excellent gas, water, oil and odor barrier properties.
5.It has high transparency, can block ultraviolet rays, and has good gloss.
6.It is non-toxic, odorless, hygienic and safe, and can be directly used for food packaging.
Characteristics
PET is a highly crystalline polymer with milky white or light yellow color and a smooth and shiny surface. It has good creep resistance, fatigue resistance, abrasion resistance and dimensional stability, low wear and high hardness, and has the greatest toughness among thermoplastics: good electrical insulation performance, little temperature influence, but poor corona resistance. It is non-toxic, weather-resistant, and has good chemical resistance stability, low water absorption, and is resistant to weak acids and organic solvents, but not hot water immersion and alkali.
PET resin has a high glass transition temperature, slow crystallization speed, long molding cycle, long molding cycle, large molding shrinkage, poor dimensional stability, brittle crystallization molding, and low heat resistance.
A.The heat deformation temperature and long-term use temperature are the highest among thermoplastic general engineering plastics
B.Due to its high heat resistance, reinforced PET is immersed in a 250℃ solder bath for 10S, and it is almost not deformed or discolored. It is particularly suitable for preparing soldered electronic and electrical parts:
C.The bending strength is 200MPa, the elastic modulus is 4000MPa, the creep and fatigue resistance are also very good, the surface hardness is high, and the mechanical properties are similar to those of thermosetting plastics.
D.Since the price of ethylene glycol used in the production of PET is almost half that of butanediol used in the production of PBT, PET resin and reinforced PET are the lowest in price among engineering plastics, with a high cost performance.
Applications
PET is mainly used for fibers, and a small amount for films and engineering plastics. PET fibers are mainly used in the textile industry. PET films are mainly used for electrical insulation materials, such as capacitors, cable insulation, printed circuit wiring substrates, electrode slot insulation, etc. Another application area of PET film is film bases and basebands, such as movie films, X-ray films, audio tapes, computer tapes, etc. PET film is also used to make metallized films by vacuum aluminum plating, such as gold and silver wires, micro capacitor films, etc. Another use of PET is blow molding products, polyester stretch bottles for packaging.
Glass fiber reinforced PET is suitable for the electrical and electronic and automotive industries, and is used for various coil skeletons, transformers, televisions, tape recorder parts and shells, automotive lamp holders, lampshades, incandescent lamp holders, relays, sun rectifiers, etc.
What is PET plastic used for?
This plastic is commonly used to package food and beverages, especially carbonated soft drinks, juice, and water bottles. It is made from ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid. These are processed to form polymer chains, which are then made into PET resin pellets, which are then heated to a molten state. This allows the plastic to be extruded or molded into almost any shape.
PET can also be stretched into thin sheets to make PET film, which is used in video, photo, and packaging applications.
PET’s high strength, transparency, and wide range of color options make it a popular packaging material for health, beauty, and cleaning products. PET is also recognized by global health agencies as safe for food, beverage, personal care, pharmaceutical, and medical applications.
Recycling
PET packaging can be made from up to 100% recycled plastic, and the material can be recycled over and over again. Commercial recycling involves thorough cleaning and remelting, or chemically breaking it down into its constituent parts to make new PET resin pellets for remolding.
Recycled PET can be used to make a range of products – new PET bottles and jars, carpets, clothing, car parts and building materials.
