Basic Product Knowledge of Tube Packaging Materials
Time:2025-08-22 18:45:12
A tube is a type of packaging container made by first producing sheets from materials such as PE plastic, aluminum foil, and plastic film through processes like co-extrusion lamination, then shaping the sheets into tubes using specialized tube-making machines. Tubes are favored by numerous cosmetics manufacturers due to their advantages, including light weight, portability, durability, recyclability, easy squeezing, good processability, and excellent print adaptability.
Aluminum-plastic laminated tubes are packaging containers manufactured by forming sheets from aluminum foil and plastic film via co-extrusion lamination, followed by tube shaping with dedicated tube-making equipment. Their typical structure is PE/PE+EAA/AL/PE+EAA/PE. These tubes are mainly used for packaging cosmetics that require high hygiene and barrier properties; their barrier layer is generally aluminum foil, and the barrier performance depends on the pinhole density of the aluminum foil. With continuous technological advancements, the thickness of the aluminum foil barrier layer in aluminum-plastic laminated tubes has been reduced from the traditional 40μm to 12μm, or even 9μm, significantly conserving resources.
Composed entirely of plastic materials, all-plastic laminated tubes are divided into two types: non-barrier all-plastic laminated tubes and barrier all-plastic laminated tubes. Non-barrier all-plastic laminated tubes are generally used for packaging low-end, fast-moving consumer cosmetics. Barrier all-plastic laminated tubes, which typically have seams during tube production, are commonly used for mid-to-low-end cosmetics packaging; their barrier layer can be a multi-layer composite material containing EVOH, PVDC, oxide-coated PET, etc. The typical structure of a barrier all-plastic laminated tube is PE/PE/EVOH/PE/PE.
Plastic co-extruded tubes are formed in one step by co-extruding raw materials of different properties and types using co-extrusion technology. They are categorized into single-layer extruded tubes and multi-layer co-extruded tubes. The former are mainly used for packaging fast-moving cosmetics (e.g., hand cream) that require high appearance quality but low practical performance, while the latter are primarily used for high-end cosmetics packaging.
Attachment: Tube Production Flow Chart
Tubes can be processed into colored tubes, transparent tubes, colored or transparent frosted tubes, and pearlescent tubes (including pearlescent, silver-flaked pearlescent, and gold-flaked pearlescent finishes). They also come in UV-coated, matte, or glossy variants: matte finishes appear elegant but are prone to soiling. The difference between colored tubes and tubes with large-area body printing can be identified from the tail cut: tubes with a white cut are large-area printed tubes, which require high-quality ink—otherwise, the ink is prone to peeling, and cracks or white marks may appear after folding.
Common printing methods for tube surfaces include:
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Screen Printing: Uses spot colors, suitable for small and few color blocks (same as plastic bottle printing, requiring color registration), often used for professional-line products.
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Offset Printing: Similar to paper printing, suitable for large and multiple color blocks, commonly used for daily chemical-line products.
Other methods include gold stamping and silver stamping.
Flat offset printing (OFFSET) is typically used for tube processing, and most inks used are UV (ultraviolet)-cured. These inks generally require strong adhesion and resistance to discoloration. Printed colors should fall within the specified shade range; color registration should be accurate with a deviation of no more than 0.2mm; and text should be complete and legible.
The main components of a plastic tube include the tube shoulder, tube barrel (tube body), and tube tail. The tube barrel is often decorated with direct printing or self-adhesive labels to display text or graphic information and enhance the value of product packaging. Currently, tube decoration is mainly achieved through direct printing (including screen printing and offset printing) or self-adhesive labels. Compared with direct printing, self-adhesive labels have advantages in printing diversity and stability:
Traditional extrusion-molded tubes (produced first, then printed) usually use offset printing or screen printing, while self-adhesive printing can adopt diverse combined processes such as letterpress, flexography, offset printing, screen printing, and gold stamping, enabling more stable and superior performance in high-difficulty color expression.
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By Material: Aluminum-plastic laminated tubes, all-plastic tubes, paper-plastic tubes, high-gloss aluminum-coated tubes, etc.
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By Thickness: Single-layer tubes, double-layer tubes, five-layer laminated tubes, etc.
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By Shape: Round tubes, oval tubes, flat tubes, etc.
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By Application: Cleanser tubes, BB cream tubes, hand cream tubes, lipstick/lip gloss tubes, sunscreen tubes, toothpaste tubes, hair conditioner tubes, hair dye tubes, mask application tubes, etc.
Standard Tube Diameters: Φ13, Φ16, Φ19, Φ22, Φ25, Φ28, Φ30, Φ33, Φ35, Φ38, Φ40, Φ45, Φ50, Φ55, Φ60
Standard Capacities: 3G, 5G, 8G, 10G, 15G, 20G, 25G, 30G, 35G, 40G, 45G, 50G, 60G, 80G, 100G, 110G, 120G, 130G, 150G, 180G, 200G, 250G, 250G
During tube production, the product undergoes multiple heating processes, such as tube drawing, jointing, glazing, offset printing oven treatment, and UV lamp drying for screen printing. After these processes, the tube dimensions will shrink to a certain extent, and the "shrinkage rate" varies. Therefore, it is normal for the tube diameter and length to fall within a specific range.
Some products require tail sealing after filling. Common tail sealing types include straight-groove sealing, diagonal-groove sealing, umbrella-shaped sealing, and custom-shaped sealing. During tail sealing, date codes can be printed on the sealed area as required.
Tube caps come in various shapes, mainly categorized as follows:
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Screw Caps: Available in single-layer and double-layer designs. The outer cap of double-layer screw caps is often electroplated to enhance product grade and aesthetics, and they are widely used for professional-line products.
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Other types: Flat caps, round-top caps, sprayer caps, flip-top caps, ultra-flat caps, double-layer caps, spherical caps, lipstick caps.
Plastic caps can also undergo various processing treatments, such as gold-edge stamping, silver-edge stamping, color coating, transparency, oil spraying, and electroplating. Tip caps and lipstick caps are usually equipped with inner plugs.
Note: Tube caps are injection-molded products, while tubes are extruded products. Most tube manufacturers do not produce tube caps themselves.
With the diversification of user needs, the effective integration of contents with functional structures (e.g., massage heads, roller balls, and rolling wheels) has become a new market demand.
Tubes are favored by numerous cosmetics manufacturers due to their advantages of light weight, portability, durability, recyclability, easy squeezing, good processability, and excellent print adaptability. They are widely used for packaging cosmetics such as facial cleansing products (e.g., facial cleansers), skincare products (e.g., eye creams, moisturizers, nutrient creams, vanishing creams, and sunscreens), and beauty/haircare products (e.g., shampoos, hair conditioners, and lipsticks).
For those unfamiliar with tubes, designing drafts independently can be a stressful challenge—any mistake can render the entire project unsuccessful. High-quality suppliers will design simple drafts for clients unfamiliar with tubes: after confirming the tube diameter and length, they provide a design area diagram, and clients only need to place the design content within this area and center it.
High-quality suppliers also check the design and production processes and offer suggestions. For example:
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They will inform clients if the sensor position is incorrect.
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They will remind clients if the color selection is unreasonable.
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They will repeatedly urge clients to revise drafts if the specifications do not meet design requirements.
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They will also check minor issues such as the direction and readability of barcodes, whether color separation and processes can realize the tube design, and even whether the draft has been converted to curves.
The materials used must meet relevant hygiene standards, and harmful substances such as heavy metals and fluorescent agents should be controlled within specified limits. For example, tubes exported to the United States must use polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) that comply with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standard 21CFR117.1520.
Tubes have two filling methods: tail filling and mouth filling.
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Mouth Filling: When purchasing tubes for mouth filling, it is crucial to ensure the "tube mouth size matches the filling nozzle size" to allow flexible insertion into the tube.
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Tail Filling: For tail filling, clients need to arrange tubes in boxes and consider the direction of the tube head and tail to facilitate quick and easy tube loading during filling.
Additionally, clients should clarify whether the contents are filled at high temperatures or room temperature. Since the filling process is often related to the tube design, understanding the nature of filling production in advance is essential to avoid problems and achieve high yield and efficiency.
If a daily chemical enterprise packages contents that are particularly sensitive to oxygen (e.g., some whitening cosmetics) or have highly volatile fragrances (e.g., essential oils, or certain oils, acids, salts, and other corrosive chemicals), five-layer co-extruded tubes should be selected.
The oxygen transmission rate of five-layer co-extruded tubes (polyethylene/adhesive resin/EVOH/adhesive resin/polyethylene) is 0.2-1.2 units, while that of ordinary single-layer polyethylene tubes is 150-300 units. In ethanol weight loss rate tests over a certain period, co-extruded tubes perform dozens of times better than single-layer tubes.
Furthermore, EVOH (ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer) has excellent barrier properties and aroma retention (with an optimal thickness of 15-20μm).
Tube prices vary significantly depending on quality and manufacturer. The plate-making fee is usually 200-300 yuan per color. The tube body can be printed with multiple colors via offset printing or screen printing; some manufacturers have heat transfer equipment and technology.
Gold stamping and silver stamping are priced by area. Screen printing offers better results but costs more, and fewer manufacturers provide this service. Clients should choose manufacturers based on different tier requirements.
The general production cycle is 15-20 days (counting from the confirmation of the sample tube). The minimum order quantity (MOQ) for a single product is 5,000-10,000 units. Large-scale manufacturers usually set an MOQ of 10,000 units, while a few small manufacturers may accept an MOQ of 3,000 units for a single product if the order includes multiple varieties.
Few clients commission custom molds; most use standard molds (with a small number of custom molds for unique caps). In this industry, a deviation of ±10% between the contracted order quantity and the actual delivered quantity is acceptable.
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