Top Ten Inventions in Packaging in the 20th Century (I)

The 20th century is the historical period in which human progress and social development have been the fastest. In this short span of a hundred years, scientists invented automobiles (industrial production), aircraft, tanks, satellites, computers, stainless steel, movies, television, fax, air conditioners, fiber optics, color photos, electrocardiograms, refrigerators, insecticides Agents, etc., have greatly improved people's lives, work, and residence.
In the 20th century, it was the Green Revolution that had the greatest impact, the longest duration, and the largest number of participants. From the green industry to green agriculture, from green rivers to green deserts, from green environment to green cities, from green food to green housing, all of the “life support systems” on which human beings rely are reflected in the green revolution.
In the past 100 years, the world packaging industry has made great progress, great developments and many inventions. In reviewing the 100-year history of packaging, we selected ten major packaging inventions or major packaging application technologies for review based on the technical difficulty, broad application, scientific rationality, and bright prospects of “packaging”. It aims to promote the development of packaging in the 21st century.
Cellulhane
The cellophane (cellulose film) invented in 1908 was the earliest and most brilliant packaging invention in the 20th century. Created a precedent for modern transparent flexible packaging.
In the spring of that year, the Swiss chemist JECGUES BRANDEN BERGEV obtained cellulose film for the first time when spraying wood pulp, and was named because of its “transparency” (PHANE French). "Transparent cellulose" CELLOPHANE, Chinese transliteration as "celluloid".
In 1911, Brandenburg designed a machine for trial production, but the production was small. In 1924, CELLOPHANE transferred its technology to the world's largest U.S. DuPont (DU PONT) Buffalo plant. Since then, CELLOPHANE has officially entered the stage as a packaging material.
In 1926, Shinko Corporation in Tokyo, Japan also began production of CELLOPHANE. In 1930, AVISCO Corporation in the United States, and many companies successively put into production.
Celluloid is made from natural cellulose and has more than 100 varieties. Today all manufacturers produce CELLOPHANE films of different specifications, from inner packaging to outer packaging, from liner box bags to special bags. A single celluloid (PT) performs well but has poor moisture resistance. After coating a nitrocellulose membrane, it is a soft, moisture-proof, vapor-impermeable packaging film that is widely used because of its low cost. In the case of high-grade oxygen barriers, polyvinylidene dichloride (PVDC) coated celluloid (KPT) is required to have excellent oil resistance, airtightness, and impermeability. The coating is thin and heat-sealed. Good performance.
In 1963, in order to meet the needs of multi-bone chicken and meat packaging in the US supermarkets, the United States developed a polyethylene coated cello packaging material. Since the price is lower than PVDC coating type, its application has been very prosperous for a while.
When Celluloid entered the market, the price was high, and it was only used for luxury packaging. Between 1924 and 1939, the price dropped by 21 times (0.4 US dollars per pound) and the application was greatly expanded. At the end of the 1990s, the quality and cheap "Cellophane" will surely be rejuvenated in the tide of green packaging.
Polypropylene (PP)
Polypropylene, invented by Dr. NATA in Italy in 1954, biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film developed in the 1960s became the main army of the packaging, and was widely hailed as a “Packaging Queen” abroad.
In 1957, Monte-Ericsson company in Italy used the ZIGLER-NATTA method to mass produce PP. In 1958, polypropylene extrusion film was produced for the first time. In 1962, biaxially oriented polypropylene film began industrial production. As a new type of transparent flexible packaging material, BOPP has been rapidly developed. By the end of this century, there were 150 companies in the world and more than 300 production lines. The annual output was close to 20 million tons; China's annual demand was close to 500,000 tons.
Polypropylene is non-toxic and odorless, has good moisture resistance and high mechanical strength. It is widely used in food, candy, cigarettes, tea, fruit, milk, textiles, cosmetics and other packaging fields. Because of its rich raw materials, excellent performance, and wide range of uses, BOPP has become a more popular packaging than cellophane (such as PVC). Its simple manufacturing process and reasonable price make it a more ward than BOPET and BOPA, especially in compounding. Packaging, pearl packaging, food and candy packaging are visibly escalating.
Although polypropylene is the fastest-growing and widest variety, it is not enough. At present, new properties are being imparted through physical and chemical methods such as copolymerization, grafting, cross-linking, and blending (ABC technology). It is not only an excellent packaging material but also a high-quality engineering plastic.
ABC technology is the key technology for modern modification, namely ALLOY, BLEND0 and COMPOSITE. The first composite film was PE/PP/PE coextrusion developed by KORDITE Corporation in the United States in 1963. The film was first used for the packaging of foods such as alfalfa. At that time, the thickness of the three layers was 10 μm, 25 μm, and 10 μm. Nowadays, various types of films have become more and more complex, and they have become high-quality, diversified, and asymmetric. Directional development. (To be continued)