Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)

Polyethylene terephthalate (abbreviation PET) is a thermoplastic polymer in the polyester family produced by polycondensation. PET has diverse uses and, among other things, is used to produce plastic bottles (PET bottle), films and textile fibres. Worldwide production is 40 million tonnes per year.

PET is processed in many forms and has diverse uses. The most widely known uses include the manufacture of plastic bottles (PET bottle, injection blow moulding production method, stretch blow moulding) of all kinds and are processed to produce textile fibres.

A very important application of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is as films, which are nowadays produced with thicknesses of 1 to 800 µm. Their use extends from very thin films for wound capacitors, typewriter ribbons, embossing films, packaging films for scent-tight packaging, furniture films, integrated light-protection films, cinematic film, photo film, X-ray film, electrically insulated film through to film for test strips in the pharmaceutical industry. Another large application is as bearer films for magnetic tapes.