From A Winter Hot Seller To A Summer Must-have: The Secret Behind The Ice Cup

Last summer, the airborne "ice cup" became the new traffic code. The ice cup is a disposable sealed plastic cup with a lid, which is filled with edible ice cubes, ice balls, etc., and can be used after tearing the seal. Since the ice cup is a versatile product, you can add your favorite drinks. Now many chain convenience stores have different styles of ice cups. Later, supermarkets, coffee shops,bar, and community stores also joined the market. It seems that "places that sell water are also selling ice cups."

A high-quality ice cup needs to go through several key links to ensure the quality of the ice cup. Among them, the ice cup itself is a container for holding ice cubes, so the selection of its material is a big deal.

PP (polypropylene) is a common material on the market. It is often used in water cups and baby bottles due to its excellent chemical stability, health and hygiene, and ability to withstand high temperatures up to 120°C. It is very suitable for containers that come into contact with food. Although PP is resistant to high temperatures, its resistance to low temperatures is relatively limited. At extremely low temperatures, PP may become brittle and easily cracked.

Compared with PP, PET not only has excellent low-temperature resistance, but also has very good transparency. Combined with the storage environment of cup ice, which is a cold storage at -10 to -20°C, PET cups have become the preferred material for making ice cups and other containers that need to display the contents. In addition, PET also has good toughness and drop resistance, and can resist falling and dropping that may occur during handling and moving, further increasing its appeal as an ice cup material.