Cosmetic tubes are emerging in the packaging of cosmetics and medicines

Cosmetic tubes are emerging in the packaging of cosmetics and medicines

Cosmetic tubes are convenient to use, economical and hygienic, and have become one of the main packaging varieties for cosmetics, medicine and food. Since the 1990s, China has introduced a large number of advanced composite hose production equipment from Europe, America, Japan and Taiwan Province, and its development momentum has been very strong. Multi-layer, thin-walled and transparent plastic composite hoses are the future development trend.

Whether it is cosmetics, medicine or food, the first consideration for packaging is hygiene performance, followed by mechanical strength, as well as barrier performance, printing adaptability and chemical resistance, etc. Of course, economy and the convenience of use must also be taken into consideration.

Compared with the packaging of other products, cosmetic packaging has higher requirements in terms of water resistance and oxygen resistance. On the one hand, water-containing fats may contain mold and yeast, which can cause fat oxidation, fat hydrolysis, and oxidation into fatty acids and glycerides. Therefore, increasing the moisture content in oils and fats will, on the one hand, cause hydrolysis of the oils and fats, and on the other hand, accelerate the auto-oxidation reaction, providing a living environment for microorganisms and reducing the activity of certain antioxidants such as polyamines. In addition, some powdered products need to prevent moisture absorption to avoid caking, hardening and deterioration, etc. Therefore, many cosmetic packages need to block the entry of moisture. On the other hand, some water-containing products are used to clean the skin, so they must maintain a certain moisture content for a certain period of time. Therefore, it is also necessary to prevent the water from escaping. Oxygen is the main factor causing rancidity in cosmetics. Most cosmetics contain oil components. The unsaturated bonds in oils and fats are prone to oxidation, leading to deterioration and rancidity. As long as a small portion of unsaturated oils begins to oxidize, it will cause complete rancidity of the oils, thereby reducing the quality of the products. Therefore, during the production, storage and use of cosmetics, efforts should be made to avoid the occurrence of oil rancidity and prevent the entry of oxygen.

Overall, plastic tubes have advantages that are hard to match by other materials. Therefore, since their introduction, they have made a name for themselves in the packaging of cosmetics and medicines. At present, it has become an indispensable packaging form for cosmetics and medicines.

Plastic hoses can be classified by material into single-layer hoses and multi-layer hoses. Single-layer hoses include metal hoses and plastic extruded hoses. Multi-layer hoses include aluminum-plastic composite hoses, plastic composite hoses and plastic co-extruded hoses.

According to the processing technology, plastic hoses can be classified into seamless hoses and seamed hoses.

The development of plastic hoses in China has been rapid, with the emergence of composite hose manufacturing enterprises represented by Shenzhen Petrochemical Lixing and Shanghai Sanying Packaging Materials Co., LTD. Among them, Shenzhen Petrochemical Lixing has been manufacturing 5-layer composite plastic hoses since 1992 and is the first enterprise in China to produce 5-layer composite hoses.

Most of the plastic hose manufacturing enterprises in China that have reached a certain scale have introduced high-speed pipe-making machines from Switzerland's KMK and AISA. Flexographic and gravure printing machines from the United States, Japan or Taiwan Province; German or Italian co-extrusion laminating machines and dry laminating machines; World-class advanced production equipment such as cutting and slitting machines, bag-making machines and blown film machines from Japan, Italy or Taiwan.

Cosmetics and pharmaceuticals are the largest users of plastic tubes. Currently, in the food industry, they are mainly used for packaging some condiments. The application in other fields still needs to be expanded.