Polyethylene is the most common type of plastic. The scope of its application is so wide that one can only wonder at the properties of this material. One of the most common applications for polyethylene is packaging.
What is polyethylene?
Polyethylene is a widely used white polymer that is easily thermoplastic. In addition, it has a number of amazing properties that make it indispensable in many industries.
Polyethylene proved to be resistant to alkalis, organic acids, concentrated hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids. This makes it possible to manufacture various pipelines from it for operation in aggressive environments. It is quite resistant to radiation and harmless at the same time. The operating temperature range of polyethylene products ranges from minus 80 to plus 100 ° C.
The world of packaging
It is quite clear that such a cheap and technologically advanced material has found its application as a packaging material. The only drawback of polyethylene packaging is its resistance to destruction. On the other hand, polyethylene can be easily recycled, which saves raw materials for its production.
For a long time, manufacturers have abandoned paper and cardboard packaging, preferring plastic wrap, which not only provides a high degree of safety, but also makes it easy to automate the packaging process itself.
Plastic bag secrets
In addition to film, plastic bags are widely used for packaging. This is the same plastic wrap, only made in the form of a finished product.
It is worth dwelling separately on the methods of production of both the film itself and the bags from it. Polyethylene film is produced on special extruder machines. The output is a kind of pipe that is ready for further use. Depending on its potential use, the film can be produced in both colored and natural white colors.
If necessary, an image is applied to the surface of a plastic bag using the usual printing method. However, plastic bags of various shapes and purposes are made on special high-performance machines.
Depending on the program and the corresponding equipment, they can produce ordinary bags, T-shirt bags, bags with slotted handles and others. In production, such machines are most often used as part of automatic lines, on which the necessary image is immediately applied to the packages.
