Alu-PVC Blister Packaging

Alu-PVC blister packaging is a widely used packaging format in the pharmaceutical industry. It is made by combining transparent PVC film and aluminum foil. The design aims to provide optimal protection for the drug, ensuring its stability and effectiveness during storage, transportation, and use.

What is PVC blister packaging?

PVC blister packaging is a packaging format where a PVC film is formed into blisters, while Alu-PVC blister packaging adds an aluminum foil layer to provide a stronger protective barrier. This is especially suitable for packaging drugs that are sensitive to external environments.

Alu-PVC Blister Packaging Structure

• PVC Film (Polyvinyl Chloride Film): Serving as the base of blister packaging, PVC film is usually transparent, offering excellent formability and some flexibility. This allows it to be thermoformed to fit the shape or requirements of the product, forming the blisters that enclose the drug. PVC film not only provides physical protection for the drug but also effectively prevents external contamination and damage.
• Aluminum Foil Layer: The aluminum foil is another key component of Alu-PVC blister packaging. The aluminum foil layer is sealed onto the PVC film using a heat sealing process, creating a strong barrier. This aluminum foil layer provides a robust shield against moisture, oxygen, light, and other environmental factors, extending the drug’s shelf life and ensuring its efficacy and safety.

Alu-PVC Blister Packaging Aluminum Foil Layer Selection

Alu-PVC Blister Packaging Aluminum Foil Alloy Selection

The most commonly used aluminum foil alloys in Alu-PVC blister packaging are 8011, 8021, and 1235. These alloys provide good sealing and corrosion resistance, making them suitable for various types of drug packaging. Choosing the right aluminum foil alloy, along with its thickness and surface treatment, can effectively protect the drugs and ensure their quality and safety during transport and storage.

• 8011 Aluminum Alloy: Widely used in blister packaging for pharmaceuticals, food, and health products, especially suitable for packaging with higher strength requirements.
• 8021 Aluminum Alloy: Mainly used for packaging drugs that are particularly sensitive to moisture, oxygen, and light, such as some high-efficiency drugs, hormones, etc.
• 1235 Aluminum Alloy: Commonly used for packaging regular pharmaceuticals, health products, and nutritional supplements.

Alu-PVC Blister Packaging Aluminum Foil Thickness Selection

Alu-PVC Blister Packaging Aluminum Foil Layer Surface Treatment

Alu-PVC Blister Packaging Features

Toughness and Flexibility: The PVC film itself has good flexibility and strength, allowing the blister packaging to provide stable protection while being easy to handle and use. The addition of the aluminum foil layer further enhances the mechanical properties of the packaging.

Moisture and Oxidation Protection: The aluminum foil layer plays a critical protective role in the packaging. The aluminum foil has good barrier properties against water vapor, oxygen, and light, making blister packaging ideal for sensitive medications (such as drugs with active ingredients, vitamins, supplements, etc.).

Transparency and Visibility: The transparency of the PVC film allows consumers to easily see the appearance of the medication, its quantity, and whether the packaging is intact, making it convenient for drug identification and use.

Safety and Convenience: The aluminum foil seal can be easily torn open to access the medication, providing convenience to consumers. Additionally, the aluminum foil layer provides extra safety by preventing tampering or contamination of the drug.

Alu-PVC Blister Packaging Applications

Pharmaceutical Packaging: Alu-PVC blister packaging is widely used for oral medications such as tablets, capsules, vitamins, and supplements. This packaging method effectively extends the shelf life of drugs and ensures they are not affected by environmental factors during transportation and storage.

Medical Device Packaging: In addition to medications, certain medical devices and consumables, such as needles and syringes, also use Alu-PVC blister packaging to ensure their safety and hygiene during transportation and storage.

Alu-PVC Blister Packaging Advantages

• Cost-effective: Alu-PVC blister packaging uses plastic materials (such as PVC), which have a lower production cost, providing an affordable packaging solution.
• Easy to inspect: The transparent PVC material allows consumers to visually check the integrity and dosage of the medication, ensuring its quality before use. Whether through a camera or visually, defective blisters can be easily identified.
• Flexible customization: The PVC blister cavity can be precisely molded to fit the shape and size of different medications, meeting various packaging needs and providing good product adaptability.
• Efficient protective function: The aluminum foil seal effectively blocks moisture, oxygen, light, and other environmental factors, preventing medication from damage or degradation and ensuring long-term stability and quality.
• Convenient consumer experience: Alu-PVC blister packaging allows for easy removal of individual doses, avoiding exposure of medications to air and preventing contamination and degradation. Moreover, the transparent packaging makes it easy for consumers to see each pill, facilitating management and identification.
• Simple operation and low cost: Since the blister cavities securely hold the medication, general feeders can be used in production, making the operation easy and reducing overall costs.

Alu-PVC Blister Packaging Disadvantages

Although Alu-PVC blister packaging offers good economy and visibility, it has some limitations in barrier performance, environmental impact, and vulnerability, so it should be carefully selected based on the characteristics of the medication and its usage environment.

• Poor barrier performance: Compared to aluminum-aluminum packaging, Alu-PVC blister packaging has weaker barrier properties and cannot provide the same level of protection against moisture, oxygen, and light. Therefore, it may not be ideal for drugs sensitive to environmental factors.
• Susceptible to impact damage: As the blister cavities are made of plastic, Alu-PVC packaging is prone to damage during handling, transportation, or storage, which could result in packaging damage or product degradation.
• Poor thermal stability: PVC material has poor thermal stability, and temperature during blister forming and sealing needs to be carefully controlled, or it may affect the forming quality or even lead to packaging defects.
• Insufficient protection for light-sensitive drugs: While the transparency of PVC material provides good product visibility, it may not effectively block light for light-sensitive drugs, which could lead to degradation or inactivation of the medication.
• Environmental concerns: PVC materials are not easily biodegradable, and improper disposal may cause environmental issues, especially in the disposal of packaging waste.
• Poor protection performance: PVC materials have poor moisture and oxygen barrier properties, which results in relatively low protection, especially for medications that require strict protection.

Alu-PVC Blister Packaging Manufacturing Process

The Alu-PVC blister packaging process combines efficient forming, filling, sealing, and cutting techniques to provide effective protection for medications while also offering flexible customization. By precisely controlling each process step, the final product's quality can be ensured, meeting the market's requirements for the safety, convenience, and compliance of pharmaceutical packaging.

Blister Forming: A thermoforming process is used to heat the PVC plastic film to a specific temperature, making it soft and flexible. The film is then placed in a mold, and through vacuum or pressure, it is stretched or pressed to form the desired blister cavity.

Product Filling: The formed PVC blister is sent to the filling station, where products (such as tablets or capsules) are placed into each blister cavity, ensuring that each cavity is accurately loaded with the required medication.

Sealing: After filling, the aluminum foil layer is sealed to the pre-formed PVC blister packaging using a heat-sealing process. The aluminum foil effectively covers and protects each blister cavity, ensuring the safety and stability of the medication.

Cutting: Finally, the sealed blisters are cut using cutting equipment, separating them into individual units or processed further as needed to ensure the packaging's integrity and facilitate convenient distribution.