A literature survey of the influence of preform reheating and stretch blow molding with hot mold process parameters on the properties of PET containers. Part I

Abstract

The paper presents a wide analysis of the literature on the modified blow molding process with simultaneous stretching of PET [poly(ethylene terephthalate)] material for storing hot filled drinks. The paper is a continuation of the first part presented earlier [1]. In this part it is presented in detail the impact of stretch blow molding with hot mold process parameters on thermal resistance of PET containers. An analysis of the literature shows that the relaxation of the amorphous phase has the greatest impact on the thermal stability and pressure resistance of the bottle. At the same time, the thermal stability of the bottle increases, and the pressure strength decreases when the relaxation of the amorphous phase is increased, and the crystallites increase to the largest size possible without causing thermal whitening of the material. The measure of relaxation of the amorphous phase is based on the amount of oriented and “rigid” amorphous phase, since the higher the degree of relaxation of the amorphous phase, the smaller the amounts of oriented and rigid amorphous phase. The main parameters of the hot mold SBM process that affect the properties of the hot filling bottle are the intrinsic viscosity of the preform material, the power profile of the heating lamps in the heating oven (there are seven levels of heating lamps), the heating time in the oven and the associated time of temperature-induced crystallization prior to the SBM process, the speed of the stretching rod, the pre-blow delay due to the stretching rod position, the pre-blow pressure, pre-blow duration, air blow pressure, duration of the main blow, temperature profile of the heated blow mold (there are two heat zones for the blow mold, the lateral surface of the bottles and base zone), duration of annealing in the mold, cooling air temperature of a bottle in a blow mold fed by a stretching rod, and the pressure in the feed branch for air cooling of a bottle in a blow mold fed by a stretching rod. Thus, the properties of a bottle or hot fill can be influenced by as many as 20 factors during the SBM process with a hot mold.