PET is among those plastics which are an important part of your everyday life. It is an important commercial polymer having application ranging from packaging, fabrics, films to molded parts for automotive, electronics and many more. You can find this famous clear plastic around you as water bottle or soda bottle container. Explore more about polyethylene terephathalate (PET) and find out what makes it a suitable choice in several applications. Learn about its key properties, how its blends are made with other thermoplastics and thermosets, processing conditions and of course, benefits that make PET as No. 1 recyclable polymer worldwide.

Polyethylene terephthalate  is a general-purpose thermoplastic polymer which belongs to the Polyester family of polymers. Polyester resins are known for their excellent combination of properties such as mechanical, thermal, chemical resistance as well as dimensional stability.

PET is highly flexible, colorless and semi-crystalline resin in its natural state. Depending upon how it is processed, it can be semi-rigid to rigid. It shows good dimensional stability, resistance to impact, moisture, alcohols and solvents. The basic building blocks of PET are ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid, which are combined to form a polymer chain. The resulting spaghetti-like strands of PET are extruded, quickly cooled, and cut into small pellets. The resin pellets are then heated to a molten liquid that can be easily extruded or molded into items of practically any shape. 

PET is unique in that it is virtually shatterproof, has an extremely high strength to weight ratio and does not react to food and water. The combination of these material properties in addition to its wide availability and low price make it a nearly unbeatable solution for consumable product packaging. Polyester for fabrics is strong, flexible, and when combined with materials like cotton can reduce wrinkling, shrinking, and makes the fabric more resistant to tears.