KHS and Husky Technologies develop one of world’s lightest PET bottles for still beverages
KHS and Husky Technologies jointly developed one of the world’s lightest PET bottles for still beverages to date, under the working title of Factor 101. The container uses only 5.89 grams of material to hold 591 milliliters of product (equivalent to 20-ounce).
From preform through blown PET container to filled, labeled and capped bottle.
To increase stability, the shoulder design of Factor 101 has been modified and the bottle body reinforced with functional webbing. KHS packaging designer Fabian Osterhold and his team have developed a base with a pop-in effect. Here, the base pops inwards to a certain degree when a top load is applied, increasing the internal pressure and therefore the stability of the bottle.
The predecessor Factor 100 bottle from 2017 (left) has now been successfully further developed as the Factor 101 concept.
The shoulder of the extremely light bottle has been strengthened with vertical webbing, among other features, to stabilize it.
Although 200 newtons is a common top load threshold in the industry, Factor 101 exceeds this number and reaches at 220 newtons. In order to achieve this high value for a PET bottle used for still beverages, preform design is also needed to be further developed.
Technically speaking, the stretching factors from blank to bottle and the resulting preform dimensions were especially important here. The relation of length to wall thickness is particularly relevant to injection molding.
In this context, KHS addressed the specifications and feasibilities of the stretch blow molder and bottle design, while Husky made the necessary modifications to the preform.
“Focus lamps in the heater on our InnoPET Blomax Series V, for example, make for extremely precise temperature profiling directly under the bottle neck ring. This ensures that no material stays unstretched. In turn, this considerably reduces the amount of plastic used,” explained Osterhold.
Compared to the standard lightweight PET container holding 500 milliliters of still water that usually weighs seven grams on the US market, the joint KHS/Husky product requires 30% less material. It can also be manufactured entirely from rPET.
The prime target markets are the United States, the Middle East and South America. The first projects are already in preparation.
