For many years Gemini have been leaders in the field for blow moulding development. We service many market sectors from consumer packaging to automotive and aerospace. It’s always been our business to ensure we meet the needs of our customers and one key area we have identified is the research and development of ISBM.
As the global consumption of PET bottles continues to grow the need for light weighting has become more important than ever before. Most conventional ISBM suppliers have a hit the ceiling on this, so new and improved production methods need to be developed. Gemini now has the capability to offer fast turnaround short run ISBM.
At Gemini we have captured knowledge from years of research which is now more relevant than ever. Many container designs in the marketplace are production led and suppliers dictate to you what is possible, but this needs to change if you want to break through this ceiling to the next generation of light weight / low-cost packaging.
Our two-stage system, coupled with our in-house design and tool making service, allows us to deliver sample bottles in as little as five days from a stock preform.
Bottles Blown from PET have the following advantages:
- Suitable for recycling
- Dimensionally very accurate bottles
- Can produce lighter weight bottles
- Excellent clarity
- Thermally stable
- High breakage resistance
Injection Stretch Blow Moulding process
Injection stretch blow moulding (ISBM) is a combination of injection moulding and blow moulding to produce very high quality and very high clarity precision bottles.
First a preform is created via the injection moulding process; the preform is then placed in the ISBM machine and heated before being placed in the blow tool cavity.
The mould shuts and high-pressure air is injected where it stretches the preform vertically inside before being blown to fill the cavity. Once the blow cycle ends the tool opens to allow the process of another preform to be loaded and the process can start again.