Plastic as packaging material

Compared with more common plastics used as packaging materials, the compound does have some disadvantages, such as a high water vapour permeability and limited heat resistance, losing dimensional stability at about 70°C. It is also substantially more expensive than the high-tonnage polyolefins. Last but not least its biodegradability means that it must be used in applications that will have completed their function within a few months of the manufacture of the polymer compound. 

Polyethylene films as packaging material "plastic" squeeze bottles are molded from high-density polyethylene. 

Attenuated total reflection (ATR) is the most common reflectance measurement modahty. ATR spectra cannot be compared to absorption spectra. While the same peaks are observed, their relative intensities differ considerably. The absorbances depend on the angle of incidence, not on sample thickness, since the radiation penetrates only a few micrometers into the sample. The major advantage of ATR spectroscopy is ease of use with a wide variety of solid samples. The spectra are readily obtainable with a minimum of preparation Samples are simply pressed against the dense ATR crystal. Plastics, rubbers, packaging materials, pastes, powders, solids, and dosage forms such as tablets can all be handled directly in a similar way. 

Some examples of plastic additives and parenteral drug administration devices used as packaging materials for sterile products can be seen in Tables 1 and 2. 

Application E PTA (Eastman polymer-grade terephthalic acid) is an excellent raw material for engineering plastics and packaging materials, bottles, other food containers including hot fill, as well as films. The process is proven to be suitable for the production of all kinds of polyester fibers and containers without limitation, at international first-grade quality. 

In general, the use of rubbers for mainly processing applications means that the contact times with food are short (e.g. minutes) and the contact areas, apart from hose and belting, are small. This is in contrast to plastics which, when used as packaging materials, often have long contact times (e.g. weeks) and relatively large contact areas. 

The majority of packaging plastic materials consists of polyolefins and vinyl polymers, namely polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). Obviously, these polymers have many other applications not only as packaging materials. Chemically they are all composed of saturated hydrocarbon chains of macro-molecular size their typical thermal decomposition pathway is free radical one initiated by the homolytic scission of a backbone carbon-carbon bond. In spite of the basic similarity of the initial cleavage, the decomposition of the hydrocarbon macroradicals is strongly influenced by fhe nafure of the side groups of the main chain. 

It can therefore be concluded that a steady increase in the use of plastic for packaging materials, components and devices can be envisaged. Any trend to identify plastics suitable for pharmaceuticals (as already exists for foods) could possibly assist the industry, at least in the initial selection of materials. The fact that the quantities used by the pharmaceutical industry will never be large compared with, say, the food industry should make the industry aware that any increase in more stringent standards can only be achieved by an on-cost. Sharing standards with the food industry, whether it is related to materials or converted items, may produce an acceptable compromise. 

The term plastics is used instead of polymer to indicate a specific category of high molecular weight materials that can be shaped using a combination of heat, pressure, and time. All plastics are polymers, but not all polymers are plastics. In this text, we will discuss the major plastics that are useful as packaging materials. To a limited extent, we will discuss cellophane, which is a wood-based material that is a polymer, but not a plastic. We will also discuss adhesives, which are polymers and may or may not be plastics, but which are very useful in the fabrication of plastic and other types of packaging. 

A proper plastic food packaging material must function properly as the protection of the food is considered is important to ... 

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