The clarity, toughness and barrier properties make PET best suited for its primary market — blow-moulded carbonated soft drinks containers. Speciality grades include flame retardant, impact modified and glass, mineral, carbon, PTFE and mica filled.
Reinforced PET is probably the stiffest of all engineering thermoplastics and has outstanding weatherability and heat resistance.
Outside of the drinks industry, PET is often used for photographic film, recording tape, flexible printed circuit boards, transformer insulation and transparent stationery.
Bonding PET with cyanoacrylates often created bonds that were stronger than the PET substrate but some epoxies offered significantly lower strengths (Table 2.10).
Table 2.10 Adhesive shear strengths (PET)
Notes: * Substrate failure |