Material Characterization and Thermoforming of Polyethylene Terephthalate Film for Electrical Insulation

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to determine as-received glass transition, crystallization, and melting temperatures of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). A Box-Behnken experimental design was used to evaluate the effect of form ing temperature, forming rate, and heat-set temperature on shrinkage, tear resistance, and thermal properties. At a forming temperature of 88°C and heat-set temperature of 180°C, good-quality PET parts were produced with an optimum forming time between 0.5 min and 5.0 min. In addition, inductively coupled argon plasma emission spectroscopy (ICAP) was used to determine the catalyst system for PET sheets obtained from two vendors.