Plastic Packaging

Plastic Packaging

December 3, 2024

wanplas

Plastic packaging refers to packaging with plastic. Plastic is made of synthetic or natural polymer resin as the main material. After adding various additives, it becomes ductile under certain temperature and pressure and can fix its shape after cooling.

The process in which natural or synthetic polymer resin molecules are in a molten state and evenly distribute additive molecules around is called plasticization. If this process has been reached, it is called plasticized. If it has not been reached, it is considered not yet plasticized. Plastic packaging is one of the four major materials in the packaging industry: paper and cardboard account for 30%, plastic accounts for 25%, metal accounts for 25%, and glass accounts for 15%.

China’s plastic packaging industry

According to statistical data from the “2013-2017 China Plastic Packaging Industry Market Prospects and Investment Opportunities Analysis Report”, in 2011, the total industrial output value of the packaging industry was 929.639 billion yuan. The total industrial output value of the plastic packaging industry accounted for the total industrial output value of the national packaging industry. Calculating 10% of the output value, the total industrial output value of the plastic packaging industry in 2011 was estimated to reach 90 billion yuan, and the number of companies reached 2,000. China’s plastic packaging industry can produce more than 30 varieties of plastic packaging materials in six categories, which can basically meet the needs of the China’s pharmaceutical industry. Annual sales account for about 15% of the total plastic industry sales.

In the plastic packaging industry, there are few large-scale enterprises and state-owned enterprises, and there are many private enterprises but scattered. The overall scale of the industry is small. At the same time, it faces the market invasion of many foreign brands. For example, the German SCHOTT Group has entered the Chinese market in a big way by leveraging its technical and economic strength. During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, China’s plastic packaging industry needs to be integrated. Through corporate alliances, acquisitions, mergers and other means, some large enterprises and conglomerates will be formed to promote the healthy development of the industry.

With the rapid development of China’s economy, the increase in medical expenses caused by the improvement of people’s living standards and the aging of the population, the intensification of the development of new drugs, the acceleration of the reform of the medical security system and the expansion of medical insurance for urban residents, the plastics industry will continue to maintain Rapidly growing momentum. In addition, the quality of China’s plastic packaging materials and packaging varieties are significantly lower than international levels. In developed countries, plastic packaging accounts for 30% of the value of plastic products, while in China it is less than 10%. The next few years will be a period of rapid development for China’s plastic packaging industry.

The “Outline of the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” Development Plan for the Plastic Packaging Industry (Draft for Comments)” states that plastic packaging is an important part of the plastics industry. Packaging materials and containers that are in direct contact with drugs are the basic elements of drugs and have a negative impact on drug quality and medication safety. have important influence. Therefore, in the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” for the plastics industry, plastic packaging should be placed on the same footing as medicines, rather than supporting industries, and should be made clear in the national plastics industry plan. The research on plastic packaging materials should be synchronized with the development of drugs, and policy support for the plastic packaging industry should be increased to reflect the industrial policy of plastic packaging materials, key product areas and technical fields, and development directions.

Plastic classification

Plastics can be divided into two categories based on their own properties: thermoplastic plastics that can be repeatedly melted and molded multiple times while basically maintaining their properties, and thermosetting plastics that can only be melted and molded once. According to their uses, they can be divided into general-purpose plastics that are widely used, cheap, and have good comprehensive properties, such as PE, PP, PVC, PS, and amine-based plastics with good physical and mechanical strength and may be used in engineering machinery instead of metals. Engineering plastics such as: ABS, nylon, polyester, POM, TPX -1, etc. And a type of engineering plastics with particularly excellent properties, such as special plastics with particularly good radiation resistance, high temperature resistance, etc., such as polyarylsulfone, liquid crystal polymer, etc. According to the crystal size of thermoplastic resin molecules, thermoplastic plastics can be divided into two categories: amorphous polymers and crystalline polymers.

Main features

First, with low density and high specific strength, a higher packaging yield can be obtained, that is, “packaging volume or packaging area per unit mass.”

Second, most plastics have good chemical resistance, good acid resistance, alkali resistance, and various organic solvents. They will not oxidize if left for a long time.

Third, it is easy to form, and the energy consumption required for forming is lower than that of metal materials such as steel.

Fourth, it has good transparency and is easy to color.

Fifth, it has good strength, high strength per unit weight, impact resistance, and easy modification.

Sixth, the processing cost is low.

Seventh, excellent insulation.

Packaging industry development

In the synthesis, 25% is used in the packaging industry, which is an important sector in the plastic packaging industry. Plastic packaging is one of the four major materials in the packaging industry: paper and cardboard account for 30%, plastic accounts for 25%, and metal accounts for 25%. %, glass accounts for 15%. The above two 25% fully illustrate the importance of the plastic packaging industry. Although the plastic packaging industry is the second largest packaging material, its practical use is not as good as that of paper and cardboard packaging. However, the plastic packaging industry is developing at a rate of 5% every year, while other packaging materials, including paper and cardboard, metal, glass, ceramics, linen, cotton, etc., are only growing at a rate of 2%. For this reason, one day the plastic packaging industry will It will surpass paper and cardboard and become the first packaging material.

China’s modern packaging industry has developed rapidly since the implementation of the reform and opening up policy. After thirty years of development, China’s packaging industry has become an independent, complete and comprehensive industrial system with paper, plastics, metal, glass, packaging and printing and packaging machinery and equipment as its main industries. The packaging industry pattern of Bohai Bay is a key area.

In terms of the total volume of the packaging industry, China is already a big packaging country, but it is not a powerful packaging country. This is reflected in the fact that the ability of independent innovation of enterprises is still weak, the added value of products is low, and the value of packaging is not fully reflected in the industrial chain. Low-level duplication of construction has led to a prominent contradiction between overcapacity of low-end products and insufficient supply of high-end products, resulting in a lack of stamina for development. China’s packaging industry needs to shift from relying solely on volume growth and expansion of production capacity to relying on technological innovation, technological progress, and structural optimization and adjustment to enhance the core competitiveness of industrial development.

Packaging containers

In terms of packaging containers, the original containers for packaging beverages were glass bottles, followed by paper composite cans, and then PET bottles. Now rigid PET bottles are the largest packaging material for carbonated drinks and non-carbonated drinks, accounting for 10% of the total packaging material in the United States in 1991. 26.5% of beverage packaging containers are glass bottles, which has dropped from 28.9% in 1981 to 19.5%, and aluminum cans account for 39%. And plastic bottles are growing rapidly with an annual growth rate. To be sure, even in the countries where the plastic packaging industry is most blamed. Plastics will continue to develop at a much faster rate than other packaging materials, because many of the characteristics of plastics cannot be replaced by any other packaging materials. While the plastic packaging industry has occupied the field of sales packaging, it has also developed into transportation packaging, which will eventually force “transportation packaging” that is still mainly metal to be replaced by plastic.

Classification and characteristics

Plastic packaging bags can be divided into OPP, CPP, PP, PE, PVA, EVA, composite bags, co-extrusion bags, etc. according to their materials.

OPP plastic bag:

Characteristics: Hard, unchanged after pulling. It cannot be stretched ( two-way stretching ) and the single piece is folded in half and the edges are sealed and welded. The maximum length cannot exceed 640m/m. The single piece is 1.28M long and 0.6M wide.

Advantages: good transparency.

Disadvantages: The seals on both sides are easy to tear.

PP plastic bag : Polypropylene

Features: The hardness is second to OPP, it can be stretched (two-way stretching) and can be stretched into a triangle, bottom or side sealed ( envelope bag ), tube material. The transparency is worse than OPP.

PE plastic bag : Polyethylene

Characteristics: Contains formalin, slightly less transparent.

HDPE : High density low pressure polyethylene. High density polyethylene feels brittle and is often used to make vest bags.

LDPE: Low density polyethylene has a soft hand feel.

PVA plastic bag: Vinylon

Features: Environmentally friendly material, will dissolve in water. This raw material cannot be produced China’sally and is imported from Japan. It is expensive and widely used abroad.

Advantages: soft and transparent, no pollution.

CPP plastic bag:

Characteristics: non-toxic, compoundable, better transparency than PE, slightly worse hardness. It will grow out after being pulled, and the texture is soft, with the transparency of PP and the softness of PE.

Composite bag:

Features: The edge seal is strong, printable, and the ink will not fall off.

Co-extruded bag:

Features: good transparency, soft texture, printable.

Plastic blister

A plastic processing technology. The main principle is to heat and soften a flat hard plastic sheet, then vacuum it to the surface of the mold, and then cool it into shape. It is widely used in plastic packaging, lighting, advertising, decoration and other industries.

Blister packaging

A general term for using the blister process to produce plastic products and using corresponding equipment to package the products.

Features

The main advantages of blister packaging are that it saves raw and auxiliary materials, is light in weight, easy to transport, has good sealing performance, and meets the requirements of environmentally friendly green packaging; it can package any special-shaped products, and no additional buffering materials are needed for packaging; the packaged products are transparent and visible. Beautiful appearance, easy to sell, and suitable for mechanized and automated packaging, convenient for modern management, saving manpower and improving efficiency

Equipment

Blister packaging equipment mainly includes: blister forming machines, punching machines, sealing machines, high-frequency machines, and folding machines.

Product classification

Packaging products can be divided into: insert cards, suction cards, double bubbles, half bubbles, half-fold bubbles, three-fold bubbles, etc.

PPO plastic

It has the advantages of high rigidity, high heat resistance, flame retardancy, high strength and excellent electrical properties. In addition, polyphenylene ether also has the advantages of wear resistance, non-toxicity, and pollution resistance. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of PPO are one of the smallest among engineering plastics. They are almost unaffected by temperature and humidity and can be used in low, medium and high frequency electric field fields. The load deformation temperature of PPO can reach over 190℃, and the embrittlement temperature is -170℃.

Pure PPO material has the disadvantages of poor melt fluidity and high price. The products sold on the market are all improved products with excellent comprehensive properties.

Applications

PPO plastic is widely used in: electronic and electrical: it can meet the requirements of excellent electrical insulation under conditions of moisture, load, and high temperature. It is used to prepare TV integrated circuit tuners, coil cores, microwave insulation parts, shielding sleeves, and high-frequency printed circuit boards., various high-voltage electronic components, TVs, computers, fax machines, copier casings, etc.

Automotive industry : suitable for dashboard parts, window frames, shock absorbers, pump filters, etc.

Machinery industry : used as gears, bearings, pump impellers, blower impellers, etc.

Chemical industry: used to make corrosion-resistant parts such as pipes, valves, filters and submersible pumps.

Main tasks

The main task of China’s plastic packaging industry is to develop new plastic molding equipment, gradually narrow the gap with foreign manufacturers, and compete with them in the market. Plastic packaging enterprises must change their development methods. They must stand at a new starting point to examine and resolve the above contradictions and problems, take the scientific outlook on development as the guide, change their development concepts, strengthen independent innovation, enhance market awareness, and effectively promote the enterprise develop.

Europe and the United States are the most developed countries in the plastic packaging industry in the world, and attach great importance to the research and development of advanced packaging machinery. According to Luo Baihui, secretary-general of the International Mold, Hardware and Plastic Industry Suppliers Association, European and American countries have a wide variety of packaging machinery and advanced equipment. However, in order to adapt to competition in the international market, they are constantly researching and developing more advanced plastic packaging machinery and equipment.

Under such a situation, China’s packaging machinery industry enterprises should adhere to the “going out” development strategy and actively expand foreign markets. Luo Baihui pointed out that China’s packaging machinery industry companies should adopt offensive operations and actively participate in international cooperation and mergers between companies in the same industry and even across industries. Through overseas investment and acquisition of foreign companies, they should digest and absorb their advanced technologies and implement them as soon as possible. Localization, thereby enhancing the international status of China’s packaging machinery industry.

The booming processing service industry has stimulated strong market demand for packaging machinery, which provides good business opportunities for Chinese packaging machinery suppliers. In the competition with European and American companies, Chinese packaging machinery companies have begun to appear. China is the world’s largest plastic production base, but the plastic packaging machinery industry upstream of the plastic packaging industry is basically monopolized by imported equipment.

Industrial development

China is the world’s largest packaging manufacturing and consumption country. Plastic packaging accounts for more than 30% of the total output value of the packaging industry. It has become a new force in the packaging industry and plays an irreplaceable role in various fields of food, beverages, daily necessities, and industrial and agricultural production. The packaging products and packaging materials in the plastic packaging industry are growing steadily, and new packaging materials, new processes, new technologies, and new products are constantly emerging.

From January to December 2006, China’s plastic packaging box and container manufacturing industry achieved a cumulative total industrial output value of 57,615,577,000 yuan, an increase of 22.83% over the same period last year; cumulative product sales The sales revenue was 55,288,976,000 yuan, an increase of 23.15% over the same period last year, and the total cumulative profit was 3,124,783,000 yuan, an increase of 1.39% over the same period last year.

From January to December 2007, China’s plastic packaging box and container manufacturing industry achieved a cumulative total industrial output value of 73,093,169,000 yuan, an increase of 26.72% over the same period last year.

From January to October 2008, China’s plastic packaging box and container manufacturing industry achieved a cumulative total industrial output value of 73,367,215,000 yuan, an increase of 21.48% over the same period last year.

The use of plastics will increase in both rigid containers and flexible packaging. In terms of rigid containers, such as plastic trays and plastic buckets, the long-term cost is lower than fiberboard buckets because they are reusable. Plastic stand-up bags are also on track to replace cardboard boxes as containers for dry foods such as prepared cereals, sauces, etc. In addition, because plastic bottles are lightweight and collision-resistant, they are increasingly used for packaging juices and fruit drinks. In terms of flexible packaging, pouches and films in plastic products will still be of great use in the fast food and retail sectors.