Packaging is the largest end-use market segment accounting for just over 40% of total plastic usage. According to AWS Marketplace, in 2021, the plastics segment held the largest market share at 67%. Therefore, if you want to become a qualified cosmetic packaging purchasing manager or product manager, you must start by understanding plastic packaging.
1. Different plastic materials
Commonly used plastic packaging materials for cosmetic inner packaging materials include: PP, PE, PS, PET, PETG, AS, ABS, acrylic, etc.
PP
PP material is a high polymer polypropylene, a polymer compound, which is non-toxic, harmless, odorless, has good heat resistance, good cold resistance, good chemical stability, and is not prone to chemical reactions when encountering strong acids and alkalis. Variety. Milky white and translucent, smooth and non-greasy; PP bottles are softer than PET, easier to pinch, and less transparent than PET, so some opaque shampoo bottles are more commonly used (easy to squeeze). Use color masterbatch produced by a specialized manufacturer (a particle with high color concentration composed of colorant, carrier resin, and dispersant). It has a good coloring effect and is the best in PP plastic. During the production process, the color masterbatch is directly added to the product. After stirring, the next process can be entered normally, and the finished product will have color.
The material is basically opaque, but the material is softer and not as smooth as PET.
Cosmetic applications: hoses, lotion bottles, bottle caps, etc.
PET
PET is polyethylene terephthalate, which is a thermoplastic polyester with a relatively smooth and shiny surface, can resist friction, has good dimensional stability and high hardness, but is not resistant to hot water immersion or alkali resistance. The material is an environmentally friendly material with high barrier properties, light weight, non-breaking properties, chemical resistance, and extremely transparent. It can be made into pearlescent, colored, magnetic white, and transparent, and is widely used in filling gel water.
Features: PET has high transparency, the bottle body is soft, and can be pinched but is harder than PP.
PETG
The transparency of PETG is even better than that of PET, but it is not commonly used in China, has high cost, high scrap, is formed in one go, and cannot be recycled. PETG is used in various long-term daily necessities, such as cosmetic bottles, perfume bottles, pharmaceutical packaging containers, etc. Compared with PET, PETG has higher transparency, better chemical resistance, better oil resistance, and better weather resistance (yellowing) than PET. The purchase cost of PETG is 2-3 times that of PET.
AS
AS, also known as SAN, is a styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer. It has higher impact strength and excellent heat resistance, oil resistance, and chemical resistance than polystyrene (PS). The hardness is not high, relatively brittle (there is a crisp sound when knocked), and the transparency is good. It can be directly contacted with cosmetics and food. It is generally used as the material of the bottle body in ordinary lotion bottles and vacuum bottles. It can also be made into small-capacity bottles. Cream bottle. Appears transparent. Cream bottles, powder boxes, eye shadow boxes.
ABS
It is an engineering plastic, not environmentally friendly, has high hardness, and cannot directly come into contact with cosmetics and food. Acrylic cosmetic packaging materials are generally used for inner covers and shoulder sleeves. The color is yellowish or milky white.
It is important to note that if the ABS packaging material will directly contact the material body, please note that the material body must not contain alkane lubricating oil, because it will cause the ABS non-crystalline area to absorb, swell, become brittle, and crack.
Acrylics
Thick and hard, the most glass-like thing is acrylic. Acrylic bottles are made of injection molded bottles, which have poor chemical resistance. Generally, they cannot be filled with paste directly. They need to be equipped with an inner tank barrier to prevent overfilling and prevent paste from entering between the inner tank and the acrylic bottle, which may cause Cracks require higher packaging requirements during transportation, because the scratches look particularly obvious, the permeability is high, and the upper wall feels extra thick, but the price is quite expensive.
Color
The color can be customized, usually primary color matte and magnetic white, or with pearlescent powder effect. Although the bottle and cap are made of the same color masterbatch, sometimes the colors shown are somewhat different due to the different materials used for the bottle and cap. PP and ABS bottles are mostly made of solid colors, PETG bottles and acrylic bottles are mostly made of transparent colors, which have a translucent feel, and the walls of acrylic bottles are mostly made of spray colors, which can refract light and have good effects.
Printing
Screen printing includes ordinary ink and UV ink. UV ink has better effect, gloss and three-dimensional effect. During production, you should make a plate to confirm the color. The silk screen printing effect on different materials will be different.
Hot stamping and silver
Hot stamping, hot silver and other processing techniques are different from printing gold powder and silver powder in effect. Hard materials and smooth surfaces are more suitable for hot stamping and silver hot stamping. Soft surfaces have poor hot stamping effects and are easy to fall off. Hot stamping silver The glossiness is better than gold printing and silver printing.
Pump head
According to the production process: A. Electroplating pump head: B. Anodized aluminum pump head: C. Plastic pump head
Outer cover
Mostly made of PP material, but also PS, ABC material and acrylic material.
Double-layer cover
A.PP inner cover + PS and acrylic material outer cover; B. PP inner cover + outer cover PP, ABS material electroplating; C. PP inner cover + anodized aluminum outer cover; D. PP inner cover + PP or ABS fuel-injection outer cover
Single-layer cover
PP material is commonly used
Cover technology
The cover edge can be gilded or silver, sprayed with oil; the inner cover of the double-layer cover can be screen-printed with logo, and the outer cover can be made transparent to reveal the effect. The outer cover is made of anodized aluminum with a embossed logo.
3. Mold opening costs, order quantity, production cycle
Mold development costs
Bottle blowing molds cost around US$600-700, injection molds range from US$4,000-5,000. Stainless steel molds are more expensive than alloy materials, but they are durable. How many molds are produced at a time depends on the production volume. If the production volume is large, you can choose a mold with four molds per mold or six molds per mold. Customers can decide by themselves.
Minimum order quantity
Generally 5,000-10,000 pieces
Production cycle
Relatively moderate, about 15-25 days.
Printing costs
Usually, the first screen printing screen fee or fixture fee is charged. The screen printing unit price is generally 0.01-0.05 US dollars per color, the screen version is 15-30 US dollars per style, and the jigs are about 8-10 US dollars per piece.
