• Bottle Paneling

    Posted by MArchambault on June 15, 2018 at 6:40 pm

    I am working on a product launch and the product is a 16oz fill into a tall cylindrical bottle with a disc top and induction seal.  We are having problems with the bottle paneling about 24 hours after filling on the production line.  I am looking for anyone who might have gone through a similar experience and have some knowledge on how the remedied the situation.  Thanks!

    aperson replied 5 years, 9 months ago 8 Members · 18 Replies
  • 18 Replies
  • belassi

    Member
    June 15, 2018 at 7:11 pm

    What do you mean exactly? You mean the bottle is partially collapsing? That would be a filling temperature issue, unless you bought the bottles from some substandard supplier (not unknown - I have had to junk hundreds of bottles once due to quality issues).

  • chemist77

    Member
    June 16, 2018 at 5:55 am

    What’s the product  here, I have seen similar issues with few formulation types specially in home care. 

  • MArchambault

    Member
    June 18, 2018 at 12:43 pm
    Yes the bottle is partially collapsing as you describe.
    The product is a soap with natural fragrance in one variant and essential oils in the other.  Both are collapsing but the one with essential oils is collapsing more.  The soap is not surfactant based but soap based.
  • belassi

    Member
    June 18, 2018 at 2:32 pm

    Can only be (1) you are filling too hot and the volume reduction as it cools is causing the collapse, or (2) the walls of the bottle are substandard thickness or (3) something in your formula is attacking PET  :#

  • microformulation

    Member
    June 18, 2018 at 2:37 pm

    What is the material the bottle is made of? Is it PET?

  • chemist77

    Member
    June 18, 2018 at 2:44 pm

    Let me guess, one of the components of your essential oils. Have seen it with dipentene paneling a top class heavy duty HDPE 10 gallon bottle. 

  • microformulation

    Member
    June 18, 2018 at 3:32 pm

    I have seen the same issue in PET. In many cases, we fixed it by changing the material of the components.

  • MArchambault

    Member
    June 18, 2018 at 4:03 pm

    I believe the bottles might be HDPE but they are very flimsy and have a repeatable soft spot on all bottles in the same spot in all mold #’s. 

  • belassi

    Member
    June 18, 2018 at 4:12 pm

    Well that’s it then. You need to change supplier and return all those rubbish bottles.

  • microformulation

    Member
    June 18, 2018 at 5:32 pm
    If you are using a reputable manufacturer, the plastic type is reflected on the bottom of the component.
    If there is a repeatable soft spot that is flimsy, @Belassi is spot on. You need to send them back.
  • MArchambault

    Member
    June 18, 2018 at 5:34 pm

    Thanks all!

  • belassi

    Member
    June 18, 2018 at 8:42 pm

    I cannot stress too highly the need to do Q/A on any incoming item. I got burnt like this too. I bought 400 shampoo bottles and put them into store while I used the remainder of existing stock. Three weeks later I began to use them and the whole lot had to be junked, and the supplier refused to accept them back because of the three week delay. Needless to say I changed supplier.

  • ozgirl

    Member
    June 20, 2018 at 11:09 pm
    What is the pH of your product? PET bottles do not like high pH.
    As others have suggested it is probably the essential oils / fragrance combined with poor quality bottles.
  • MArchambault

    Member
    June 21, 2018 at 1:28 pm

    The pH of the product is around 9.50. 

  • davidw

    Member
    June 22, 2018 at 2:17 am

    Without a list of all your ingredients it’s all just a guess.

  • chemist77

    Member
    June 22, 2018 at 4:57 am

    Either the pH or one of the components of essential oils is still my guess. I have seen both in my lab with a bleach liquid and a dipentene stored in HDPE containers, separately. 

  • erickafalves

    Member
    June 22, 2018 at 4:00 pm

    Have you done any compatibility testing between your formula and the plastic bottle? Have you tested under freezer, oven and room temp. conditions? If yes, has any of your materials and formula changed from the compatibility tests to the actual production run? 

  • aperson

    Member
    June 26, 2018 at 10:55 am

    @MArchambault 

    don’t bother switching out your materiale (HDPE is the low end of the packaging spectrum, they’ll all have thin walls).

    hot-fill.  HDPE is pretty inert (chemically), but its thermal coefficient of expansion, is beyond ridiculous.  so when your product cools, it pulls in a side.   in your case, “the weak side”.

    unless you have insanely thick walls, this will be a problem (due to your material choice).

    either fill cooler (unlikely), or give it time to acclimize before releasing it to labeling.  dealers choice.

    re:  the soft spot.  that is a wall thickness issue.  there you might get some benefit from switching to a better grade (i.e. thicker wall size).  but you don’t want to go too thick (causes other problems).

    note: switching what your bottle is made of, is also likely to cause formulation-specific issues (particularly PET).

    HDPE, is a good choice (unless you really really need clear).

    Just learn to work with it.

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