PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2016

PRODUCTS 38 PET planet insider Vol. 17 No. 04/16 www.petpla.net 30My shrink sleeve Clondalkin Kirchberg, Switzerland, has reduced their ultra-thin OPS sleeves to 40My and PET sleeves to 30My. According to the company, these new generation foils provide good stability on the sleeve lines, especially on coni- cal yoghurt pots and bottle applications. The 40 Micron OPS is said to have the same stability as 50 Micron alternatives. Also the film has no static and the performance of the sleeve machine has improved despite the thinner gauge. Shrink sleeves offer the brand owners the opportunity for high end packaging aesthetics and superior design potential to make their product stand out on the shelf. In a production environment the shrink sleeve needs to have stability and constant shrink behaviour. These two elements have proven difficult to combine when the gauge of the film is being reduced. www.clondalkingroup.com Nigerian breweries change over to PET Nigerian Breweries, Heineken Operating Company in Nigeria, commissioned PET Engineering’s team for the extension of their Climax, Amstel Malta and Maltina brands packaging to PET. The order involved a number of restrictions which included the need to use a preform that was readily available on the market to create unique shapes that would stand out on the shelf. It would also enhance the brand’s impact with a type of packaging not hitherto used by the brand. Equally important was the requirement to maintain existing dimensions to prevent changes on the bottling line and ensure the containers were able to withstand the pasteurisation process of up to 30PU at 61°C. The project started with the technical design of the con- tainers and, in particular, with the study of a low petaloid able to withstand the internal pressure at which the container was then subjected during the pasteurisation cycle. The first stage in the project was to build the specific equip- ment to reproduce as closely as possible the brewery’s indus- trial pasteurisation process. After having validated the method through numerous tests, different types of resins were consid- ered that would allow the production of a PET container able to withstand the pasteurisation process normally used for glass bottles. After choosing the resin with the highest IV, in order to limit the deformation after filling and heating treatment, different batches of bottle samples were prototyped. These were tested and subjected to pasteurisation in order to identify the best performing combination between bottle design and resin. The result was three PET containers obtained using a single type of preform, with a visually elegant petaloid base able to meet the specifications of Heineken. The project was completed with the delivery of four mould series for the Ota plant. www.petengineering.com