What is PET
 PET
(polyethylene terephthalate) enjoys an extraordinary success
on the market of packaging materials. Currently, PET is
used in manufacture of containers for different types
of food, chemicals, and perfumery products.
PET has become a very
popular and widely used material, which to some extent
has been able to replace glass and other types of plastics.
In addition to its excellent physical properties, PET
has one more important quality - a reasonable price.
PET is used as material
for packing food from around the end of 1970s. It became
especially popular in 1980s, and in 1995-1999 the manufacturing
of PET bottles for beverages increased twofold. From
1990 to 1998, PET packaging expanded its share on the
market of bottles for beverages from 9% to 30%.
The list of products,
for the packaging of which PET is used, is truly endless:
vegetable oil, sauces, fruit juices, and beer, to name
but a few. Also, PET containers are used for packaging
various types of household chemical products and perfumes.
PET has a lot of advantages.
First of all - it is a very lightweight material. A
standard half-liter PET bottle weighs approximately
28 grams (a glass bottle of the same volume can weigh
about 350 grams). PET is totally transparent, which
makes it ideal for bottling mineral, soda water. So
that products, contained in such packaging were not
exposed to sunlight, PET can be tinted, for example,
with green or brown colors. This is also done for the
appearance of products to correspond to the maximum
demands of consumers.
The starting material
for the production is preforms from which after pre-heating
bottles are stretched and blown out. Preforms, in their
turn, are produced by press-forming from granulated
polymer-polyethylene terephthalate. The color and transparency
of the future bottle are defined in the manufacture
of preforms from granules.
Another advantage of
PET containers is their rigidity, which is very important
for transportation and storage. At the same time, PET
just as glass is fully recyclable. For packaging PET
containers boxes are not required, they are packed in
polyethylene film with a cardboard tray or without it.
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