Packaging largest applications

Two-component waterborne urethanes are the preferred choice to replace solvent-borne urethane adhesives, especially in the packaging and shoe industries. At this time, the packaging area is the largest application of two-part waterborne urethanes. Good strides have been made by the two-part waterborne urethanes in the shoe industry, especially in the athletic shoe market. Waterborne urethanes are also replacing the solvent-borne products in the OEM door panels. 

Polyester polyols account for only ca. 10% of the total polyol market, which is dominated by polyether polyols such as hydroxy-terminated polyoxyethylene or polyoxypropylene. Polyester polyols are preferred for applications where better mechanical properties, wear resistance, and UV stability are required. The largest application of polyester polyols is flexible specialty polyurethane foam in the furniture, packaging, and automotive industries. Polyester polyols are also used for nonfoam applications such as coatings, paints, sealants, and adhesives 47... 

The largest application for thermoformed articles is for food packaging. Other industries include toiletries, pharmaceuticals and electronics. 

Packaging is the largest application area for bioplastics in North America with 41 % of total volumes in 2005. Other significant markets are loose-fill packaging foam and bags and sacks. 

Pressure-sensitive adhesives fall into three broad product categories water based, solvent based, and hot melt. Application areas tend to overlap, and all three types can be used in most of the application areas. Despite this overlap, tapes tend to be produced from solvent-based adhesives, while water-based adhesives are preferred for label stock. Hot melts are used in both applications. Pressure-sensitive tapes for a variety of uses, such as masking, packaging, and insulation, are the largest application area, followed... 

Substrates and packages for integrated circuits (ICs) constitute the largest application for ceramic insulators. The following properties are required ... 

Consumption of virgin polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin in the United States and Canada totaled 5110 million pounds in 2000 [3]. Bottles were by far the largest application (Fig. 4.8). Soft drink bottles continue to be the largest use for PET bottles, but other applications (custom bottles) have been growing at a much faster rate for the past several years. According to EPA estimates, soft drink bottles accounted for 49.4% of all PET packaging in U.S. municipal solid waste in 1998, and 53.2% of all PET containers in municipal solid waste [1]. 

An amendment to the Plastics Pollution Control Act of 1987 was enacted by the US Government in 1990 which requires all ring carriers in the US to be degradable. Currently, all such carriers, as defined by US Public Law 100-556, are manufactured from a photodegradable ethylene-carbon monoxide (E-CO) resin. This is the largest application of degradable plastics for packaging of any kind in the world to date. 

An E-CO formulation was developed that conformed to government statutes in 1977 and since that time photodegradable can-carriers have been the major use of E-CO as well as being the world s largest application of degradable plastics for packaging of any kind to date [11]. The majority of E-CO carriers are made in the United States. Until recently, there were three manufacturers of E-CO polymers, namely Dow, DuPont and... 

The largest outlet for polystyrene is in packaging applications. Specific uses include bottle caps, small jars and other injection moulded containers, blown containers (a somewhat recent development but which has found rapid acceptance for talcum powder), vacuum formed toughened polystyrene as liners for boxed goods and oriented polystyrene film for foodstuffs such as creamed... 

PET is by far the largest-volume thermoplastic polyester in production today. It was first synthesized by J. R. Winfield in the UK in the 1940s and its first commercial application was as a textile fiber. PET was also produced as a film for packaging and blow molded into bottles for beverages long before it had any... 

The newest commercial polymer to join the polyester family is poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT) which is being targeted at fibre applications (Chapter 11). It is sold under the Corterra trademark by Shell. After packaging, the single largest use for polyesters is for fibre applications such as clothing, textiles and non-wovens. The technology of polyester fibre formation is described in Chapters 12 and 13. 

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