The paper presents a wide analysis of the literature on the modified blow molding process with simultaneous stretching of PET [poly(ethylene terephthalate)] material for storing hot filled drinks. The paper is a continuation of the first part presented earlier [1]. In this part it is presented in detail the impact of stretch blow molding with hot mold process parameters on thermal resistance of PET containers. An analysis of the literature shows that the relaxation of the amorphous phase has the greatest impact on the thermal stability and pressure resistance of the bottle. At the same time, the thermal stability of the bottle increases, and the pressure strength decreases when the relaxation of the amorphous phase is increased, and the crystallites increase to the largest size possible without causing thermal whitening of the material. The measure of relaxation of the amorphous phase is based on the amount of oriented and “rigid” amorphous phase, since the higher the degree of relaxation of the amorphous phase, the smaller the amounts of oriented and rigid amorphous phase. The main parameters of the hot mold SBM process that affect the properties of the hot filling bottle are the intrinsic viscosity of the preform material, the power profile of the heating lamps in the heating oven (there are seven levels of heating lamps), the heating time in the oven and the associated time of temperature-induced crystallization prior to the SBM process, the speed of the stretching rod, the pre-blow delay due to the stretching rod position, the pre-blow pressure, pre-blow duration, air blow pressure, duration of the main blow, temperature profile of the heated blow mold (there are two heat zones for the blow mold, the lateral surface of the bottles and base zone), duration of annealing in the mold, cooling air temperature of a bottle in a blow mold fed by a stretching rod, and the pressure in the feed branch for air cooling of a bottle in a blow mold fed by a stretching rod. Thus, the properties of a bottle or hot fill can be influenced by as many as 20 factors during the SBM process with a hot mold.

The paper presents a wide analysis of the literature on the modified blow molding process with simultaneous stretching of PET material for storing hot filled drinks. The hot fill process is an inexpensive conventional filling technology for high-acidity products (pH < 4.5). It allows certain drinks (sensitive beverages such as fruit and vegetable juices, nectars, soft drinks, vitaminized water) to be stored at ambient temperature without the need for chemical preservatives. The primary feature of the bottles used in the hot fill process is their temperature stability, i.e. the ability to retain the shape of the bottle at the filling temperature. From a mechanical point of view, the thermal stability of PET [poly(ethylene terephthalate)] bottles manufactured by the ISBM (injection stretch blow molding) process is determined by the mechanical and thermal response of the blown preforms. From a microscopic point of view, the strongest influences on the mechanical and thermal properties of PET bottles are the orientation and crystallization processes. From a technological point of view, the properties of PET bottles after manufacture by the stretch blow molding process is mainly determined by the initial structure of the PET preform, the geometry and temperature distribution of the preform, the geometry of the blow mold, the temperature of the blow mold and its distribution in various parts of the mold and technological parameters of the blow molding process.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is widely used in bottle production by stretch blow molding processes (SBM processes) due to its cost-effectiveness and low environmental impact. The presented literature review focuses on microcavitation and solid-state post-condensation effects that occur during the deformation of PET in the SBM process. The literature review describes cavitation and microcavitation effects in PET material and solid-state post-condensation of PET on the basis of a three-phase model of the PET microstructure. A three-phase model of PET microstructure (representing the amorphous phase in two ways, depending on the ratio of the trans-to-gauche conformation of the PET macromolecule and the amount of free volume) with a nucleation process, a crystallization process, and the use of positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) to analyze PET microstructure are discussed in detail. The conceptual model developed based on the literature combines solid-state post-condensation with microcavitation via the diffusion of the post-condensation product. This review identifies the shortcomings of the developed conceptual model and presents them with five hypotheses, which will be the basis for further research.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is widely used in bottle production due to its cost-effectiveness and low environmental impact. The first part of this article describes the research and statistical analysis methodology of the influence of the virgin PET (vPET) and recycled PET (rPET) content in the vPET-rPET blend, as well as the preform heating/cooling conditions in the stretch blow molding (SBM) process on the microscopic bottle properties. Microscopic properties such as crystallinity, density, viscosity, relaxation degree of the amorphous phase, and microcavitation in PET were examined. This study reveals that microcavity and solid-state post-condensation effects occur during PET deformation in the SBM process. The increase in free volume, indicating microcavitation, was confirmed by measuring positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS). PALS and density of the amorphous phase studies prove a reduction in the dimensions of the free volumes, with a simultaneous significant increase in their number and ellipsoidization. It can be associated with crystallite rotation in a temperature-dependent non-crystalline matrix. The occurrence of solid-state post-condensation effects was confirmed by measuring the intrinsic viscosity. The conclusions resulting from the analysis of the microstructure affecting the mechanical strength of the material were validated by pressure resistance tests of the bottles.

The technology of filling drinks without preservatives (such as fresh juices, iced tea drinks, vitaminized drinks) is carried out using hot filling. Mainly due to the production costs and lower carbon footprint, polyethylene terephthalate bottles, commonly called PET, are increasingly used in this technology. In this paper, the main aim is to describe the statistical analysis methodology of the influence of the temperature of the blow mold in the SBM process and the method of hot filling on the macroscopic and microscopic bottle properties. The macroscopic bottle properties were defined by the thickness profile, pressure resistance, thermal stability, and the coefficients of blowing kinetics. Moreover, the influence of the SBM (stretch blow moulding) process on the microscopic PET material properties (in the bottle) relative to the microscopic preform properties was analyzed. The microscopic properties were defined by the degree of crystallite, density, and relaxation of the amorphous phase of the PET material. For this purpose, response surface experiments were performed for the two analyzed factors (independent variables), i.e., the temperature of the blow mold and the method of hot filling. The sample size was investigated to determine the minimum number of repetitions (number of bottles in the measurement series) required to achieve acceptable measurement uncertainty. The research conducted shows that despite fulfilling the postulate of acceptable measurement uncertainty, in terms of the power of ANOVA (analysis of variance) in DOE (design of experiment) the accepted number of bottles in the measurement series is too small. The tests of the bottle material density, material crystallite, and relaxation of amorphous phase relative to the preform material density, material crystallite, and relaxation of amorphous phase show that the microcavity effects occur during the deformation of the PET material, and that these are associated with the orientation of the microstructure. The blow kinetics study shows that there is a gradient of flow of the bottle material over the thickness of the bottle wall during blowing, and it has been deduced that the air temperature between the blow mold and the wall of the blown bottle has an impact on the kinetics of blowing the bottle.