About PET and Nylon

 

Plastic was originally considered one of the most eco-friendly materials

Introduction

 

Greetings, dear consumers. Today, we will discuss a common sight in our daily lives, laminated packaging, focusing on two types of films, PE and Nylon, to examine their advantages, disadvantages, and uses. Compared to PP and PE, it has better oxygen barrier properties and is mainly used as a laminating film. It is usually the outermost film of a product that we see when we look at a product, either PET or NY. PET stands for Polyethylene Terephthalate, one of the most widely used plastics.

 

PET is strong, lightweight, durable, and has good transparency, making it suitable for various product packaging. PET can maintain its properties even at high temperatures. Because of these properties, it is mainly used for food containers or microwave-safe dishes. PET has excellent moisture resistance and gas barrier performance. For this reason, it is mainly used in beverage bottles, food packaging, etc., helping to maintain the freshness of food for a long time. PET products are recyclable. In the recycling process, consumed PET bottles are collected, cleaned, and reused as raw materials.

 

NY stands for Nylon, a high molecular weight synthetic polyamide material. Nylon is durable and has excellent heat resistance, especially resistance to tearing. Nylon has a very high strength and wear resistance. Due to these properties, it is resistant to wear and tear and is used in various products. Nylon has good oxygen barrier performance. This characteristic helps to maintain the freshness of food when used as food packaging. However, it is generally difficult to recycle, and in humid weather, it can wrinkle due to moisture, causing difficulties in printing, laminating, and other processes.

 

Advantages and Disadvantages of PET film as Laminated Packaging

 

Advantages

 

PET film is widely used in food packaging due to its durability and the ability to maintain stability even at high temperatures. Also, its excellent moisture resistance and gas barrier performance help maintain the freshness of food.

 

Disadvantages

 

The production of PET film consumes a lot of energy, and if not recycled, it can cause environmental pollution. Furthermore, when used as a laminating film, it has a relatively higher chance of destruction at low temperatures compared to NY.

 

Uses of PET based on its Advantages and Disadvantages

 

PET film is used as packaging paper for microwave cooking. Also, because it has good gloss and printability, it specializes in delivering a clean image to consumers. Due to appropriate physical properties, excellent heat resistance, and moisture and gas barrier properties, it is used in many food packaging papers.

 

Advantages and Disadvantages of NY film as Laminated Packaging

 

Advantages

 

NY (Nylon) film is a high-strength and excellent heat-resistant material with outstanding resistance to tearing. It plays a significant role in maintaining freshness during food storage due to its good oxygen barrier performance. Its impact resistance is maintained even at low temperatures. This comes from the elasticity unique to NY, which is a different characteristic from other materials.

 

Disadvantages

 

NY is susceptible to moisture, which can cause wrinkles in the film or shrinkage, and its production cost makes it expensive.

 

Uses of NY based on its Advantages and Disadvantages

 

NY film is suitable for packaging heavy or sharp products due to its excellent resistance to tearing. Also, because of its excellent heat resistance, it can be used even at high temperatures, making it versatile in various fields such as cooking food packaging. Although it is used for various purposes, it is often replaced with PET, which has similar properties but is expensive.

 

Conclusion

 

PET and NY films each have their advantages and disadvantages and are used for various purposes depending on their characteristics. However, these materials consume a lot of energy in the production process and can cause environmental problems if they are difficult to recycle. Therefore, it is advisable to choose an eco-friendly option or minimize use if possible.

 

There is no case where NY and PET are used alone in laminated packaging, and for recycling, it is necessary to separate the laminate, but this is not easy, so it is usually burnt. Today, we have learned about PET and NY. While they have good performance, they are mostly used as laminated materials, making them difficult to recycle, and they are expensive. Also, it is true that they are somewhat lacking as packaging paper for long-term storage.

 

we have written an article on the topic of "About PET and Nylon".  In the next article, we will look at how to secure long-term storage in laminated packaging, which these lack.