New blowing agents achieve weight loss while maintaining the quality of plastic caps
The 2017 Plastic Bottle Cap held recently in Chicago. At the Bottle Stopper conference, speakers said that when blowing agents are used in bottle stoppers, they can successfully reduce the weight of products and shorten the production cycle.
The research project, conducted in collaboration with iD Additives and injection molding machine manufacturer Sumitomo (SHI) DeMag, showed that the addition of blowing agents has been tested to create tiny bubbles inside plastic products without affecting the surface quality of the product.
" The thing that really changes is that it opens up the market for bottle caps and stoppers, "says Nick Sotos, president of iD Additive." Now we can do things we couldn't do before."
Nick Sotos
The two companies borrowed a mold from NyproMold to test the effects of iD Additives on the hinged cap of a shampoo bottle.
" We want to show that you can achieve what you want and still keep the function you want. So it's a great option for brands." "He said.
Adding a blowing agent reduces the amount of resin needed to make a part, reducing both costs and carbon emissions. "It's a great way to do this without having to make thin walls," Sotos says.
Michael Uhrain, technical sales manager of Sumitomo DeMag's packaging division, pointed to concerns that blowing agents could have an impact on the hinge durability of the caps. In practice, however, the blowing agent crosses the hinge section and is applied directly to the top of the lid, avoiding any impact on the hinge's performance.
" We didn't expect the blowing agent to sacrifice any of the physical properties of the part, "Uhrain says. "So now you replace the thin wall with the same mold thickness, while maintaining those mechanical properties."
By adding the blowing agent and reducing the amount of resin used, the companies were able to reduce the production time for the special pull-back from 12.3 seconds to 10.5 seconds.
The addition of 1% foaming agent reduced the overall resin consumption by 8% during the production of finished parts. Considering the cost of blowing agent and resin, this change can reduce the cost of raw materials by 4%.