Many manufacturers across various industries have sought to use plastic packaging to replace glass in order to save on costs. However, a majority of cosmetic products utilize organic solvents and oils in their ingredients, which interact with polymers. In doing so, they impact the mechanical strength and transparency of the packaging. Copolyesters provide the necessary transparency and mechanical properties for many cosmetic packaging applications, but their chemical resistance to products varies across a wide range, depending on the polymer composition and the ingredients of the product. Three cosmetic products of different compositions with the same end use were selected to evaluate the effects of major ingredients on different polymers. Three copolyesters were selected based on their desirable properties to pair with the products, making for nine combinations altogether. Each polymer was exposed to its paired product and put under accelerated aging conditions. Then the mechanical properties, morphological properties, and chemical composition were evaluated using tensile testing, differential scanning calorimetry, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, respectively. In each scenario, ingredients of significance were identified and their effect on each polymer’s properties are presented.

Case study of polymer compatibility with ingredients in cosmetic products

256th National Meeting (2018)

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