{"id":7816,"date":"2025-10-17T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/pp-cup-thermoforming\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T09:22:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T09:22:44","slug":"pp-cup-thermoforming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/pp-cup-thermoforming\/","title":{"rendered":"PP Cup Thermoforming: Two Seconds a Cup and No Room for Error"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>\n.upl-blog{font-size:17px;line-height:1.78;color:#1f2937}\n.upl-blog p{margin:0 0 18px}\n.upl-blog h2{font-size:26px;line-height:1.3;color:#0b2b33;margin:46px 0 14px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:-.015em}\n.upl-blog h3{font-size:19.5px;color:#0d3b47;margin:28px 0 10px;font-weight:700}\n.upl-blog ul,.upl-blog ol{margin:0 0 20px;padding-left:22px}\n.upl-blog li{margin:0 0 9px}\n.upl-blog figure{margin:0 0 34px}\n.upl-blog figure img{width:100%;height:auto;display:block;border-radius:10px}\n.upl-blog figcaption{font-size:13px;color:#6b7280;margin-top:10px;line-height:1.5}\n.upl-blog .toc{background:none;border:0;border-radius:0;padding:0;margin:0 0 34px}\n.upl-blog .toc .lwptoc{margin:0}\n.upl-blog .toc h4{margin:0 0 10px;font-size:13px;letter-spacing:.1em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#0d5563}\n.upl-blog .toc ol{margin:0;padding-left:18px;font-size:14.5px}\n.upl-blog .toc li{margin-bottom:6px}\n.upl-blog table{width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:14.5px;margin:0 0 10px}\n.upl-blog th{background:#0d3b47;color:#fff;text-align:left;padding:11px 13px;font-weight:600;font-size:13.5px;border:0}\n.upl-blog td{padding:11px 13px;border:0;border-bottom:1px solid #e8ebed;vertical-align:top}\n.upl-blog tbody tr:nth-child(even){background:#fafbfc}\n.upl-blog .tablecap{font-size:12.5px;color:#6b7280;margin:0 0 30px}\n.upl-blog .myth{background:#fff8ef;border:1px solid #f6ddbd;border-radius:8px;padding:16px 20px;margin:0 0 26px;font-size:15.5px}\n.upl-blog .myth b{color:#a85c10}\n.upl-blog .callout{background:#f2f8f9;border-radius:8px;padding:18px 22px;margin:0 0 26px;font-size:15.5px;border-left:3px solid #14707f}\n.upl-blog .faq h3{border-top:1px solid #eceff1;padding-top:22px;margin-top:0;font-size:18px}\n.upl-blog .faq h3:first-of-type{border-top:0;padding-top:0}\n.upl-blog .cta{background:linear-gradient(135deg,#0b2b33,#0d5563);color:#fff;border-radius:12px;padding:34px;margin:48px 0 30px}\n.upl-blog .cta h2,.upl-blog .cta .cta-h{color:#fff;margin:0 0 10px;font-size:24px;font-weight:700;line-height:1.3}\n.upl-blog .cta p{color:#c9dee3;margin:0 0 20px;font-size:16px}\n.upl-blog .btn{display:inline-block;background:#e07a1f;color:#fff;text-decoration:none;font-weight:700;padding:13px 26px;border-radius:8px;font-size:15.5px}\n.upl-blog .rel{border-top:1px solid #e8ebed;margin-top:40px;padding-top:26px}\n.upl-blog .rel h4{font-size:13px;letter-spacing:.1em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#6b7280;margin:0 0 14px}\n.upl-blog .rel ul{list-style:none;padding:0;margin:0}\n.upl-blog .rel li{padding:11px 0;border-bottom:1px dashed #e8ebed}\n.upl-blog .rel a{text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;font-size:15.5px}\n@media(max-width:640px){.upl-blog h2{font-size:22px}.upl-blog table{font-size:13px}.upl-blog .cta{padding:24px}}\n\/* \u5355\u7bc7\u9875\u9690\u85cf WhatsApp \u95ee\u5019\u5361\uff0c\u53ea\u4fdd\u7559\u5706\u5f62\u6c14\u6ce1\uff0c\u907f\u514d\u906e\u6321\u4fa7\u680f\u8be2\u76d8\u63d0\u4ea4\u6309\u94ae\u3002\n   \u6ce8\u610f\uff1aClick to Chat \u7684\u70b9\u51fb\u903b\u8f91\u662f\u300c\u95ee\u5019\u5361\u5143\u7d20\u5b58\u5728\u5c31\u4e0d\u8df3\u8f6c\u300d\uff0c\u53ea\u9760 CSS \u9690\u85cf\u4f1a\u8ba9\u6c14\u6ce1\u53d8\u6210\u6b7b\u94fe\u63a5\u3002\n   Code Snippets #9\u300cUPL single post: WhatsApp bubble jumps straight to chat\u300d\u8d1f\u8d23\u628a\u8be5\u8282\u70b9\u4ece DOM \u79fb\u9664\uff0c\n   \u4e0b\u9762\u8fd9\u6761 CSS \u53ea\u662f\u79fb\u9664\u524d\u7684\u89c6\u89c9\u515c\u5e95\u3002\u5220 #9 \u524d\u5fc5\u987b\u5148\u5220\u8fd9\u6761\u89c4\u5219\u3002 *\/\nbody.single-post .ht_ctc_chat_greetings_box{display:none !important}\n<\/style>\n<div class=\"upl-blog\">\n<figure>\n<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/pp-cup-thermoforming.jpg\" alt=\"PP cup forming cycle against wall thickness and forming success against sheet temperature\" width=\"1536\" height=\"909\"><figcaption>At 0.5 mm the cup is off the line in two seconds. The window that makes it possible is 15 \u00b0C wide.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"toc\"><\/div>\n<h2 id=\"product\">The product and why it is polypropylene<\/h2>\n<p>A thermoformed PP cup is a thin-walled container with an integral rim, made from a roll of sheet on a form-cut-stack line. It is used for cold drinks, dairy products, ice cream and food tubs, and it is the highest-volume thermoformed product in the world after the egg tray.<\/p>\n<p>Polypropylene wins for four reasons. It is heat resistant to about 100 \u00b0C, so it takes hot fill and microwave. It is chemically resistant, so it holds acidic and fatty foods. It is cheap. And it has enough melt strength to form a deep cup without a plug.<\/p>\n<p>The alternative materials each lose on one of those. PS is cheaper and clearer but softens at 75 \u00b0C. PET is clearer and stronger but needs drying and is more expensive. PLA is compostable and cannot take hot fill in its amorphous form.<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Bahan<\/th>\n<th>Heat resistance<\/th>\n<th>Clarity<\/th>\n<th>Drying<\/th>\n<th>Relative cost<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>PP<\/td>\n<td>100 \u00b0C<\/td>\n<td>Translucent<\/td>\n<td>Tidak.<\/td>\n<td>1.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>PS<\/td>\n<td>75 \u00b0C<\/td>\n<td>Clear<\/td>\n<td>Tidak.<\/td>\n<td>0.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>APET<\/td>\n<td>70 \u00b0C<\/td>\n<td>Clear<\/td>\n<td>Ya.<\/td>\n<td>1.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>CPET<\/td>\n<td>220 \u00b0C<\/td>\n<td>Opaque<\/td>\n<td>Ya.<\/td>\n<td>1.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>PLA<\/td>\n<td>55 \u00b0C amorphous<\/td>\n<td>Clear<\/td>\n<td>Ya.<\/td>\n<td>1.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p class=\"tablecap\">Table 1 \u2014 Cup materials. PP is the only one that combines hot fill, no drying and a low price.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"cycle\">Two seconds, and where the time goes<\/h2>\n<p>A roll-fed PP cup line runs at 30 to 40 strokes per minute with 20 to 40 cavities per stroke. The cycle for a 0.5 mm cup is about 2 seconds: heating 0.9, forming 0.3, cooling 0.5, cutting and stacking 0.3.<\/p>\n<p>Heating dominates because PP has a narrow window and the sheet must reach temperature evenly across its thickness. Radiant heaters above and below the sheet, at 400 to 500 \u00b0C and 10 to 20 mm away, bring a 0.5 mm sheet to 155 \u00b0C in under a second. Faster than that and the surface overheats before the core is ready.<\/p>\n<p>Cooling is the second-largest component and it is controlled by the mould temperature. A cold mould (15 to 25 \u00b0C) gives the shortest cycle but produces a cup with high residual stress that distorts when filled hot. A warm mould (40 to 60 \u00b0C) gives a more stable cup and a longer cycle.<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Wall<\/th>\n<th>Pemanasan<\/th>\n<th>Pembentukan<\/th>\n<th>Pendinginan<\/th>\n<th>Total<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>0.4 mm<\/td>\n<td>0.7 s<\/td>\n<td>0.25 s<\/td>\n<td>0.4 s<\/td>\n<td>1.8 s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>0.5 mm<\/td>\n<td>0.9 s<\/td>\n<td>0.3 s<\/td>\n<td>0.5 s<\/td>\n<td>2.1 s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>0.6 mm<\/td>\n<td>1.1 s<\/td>\n<td>0.35 s<\/td>\n<td>0.6 s<\/td>\n<td>2.5 s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>0.8 mm<\/td>\n<td>1.6 s<\/td>\n<td>0.4 s<\/td>\n<td>0.8 s<\/td>\n<td>3.2 s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1.0 mm<\/td>\n<td>2.1 s<\/td>\n<td>0.5 s<\/td>\n<td>1.0 s<\/td>\n<td>3.9 s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p class=\"tablecap\">Table 2 \u2014 Cycle breakdown for a PP cup on a roll-fed line. Heating is nearly half the cycle at every wall.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"window\">The 15 \u00b0C window<\/h2>\n<p>PP forms between 145 and 162 \u00b0C at the surface. Below 145 the sheet is too stiff and the cup has stress whitening at the base radius; above 162 it sags and the rim thins.<\/p>\n<p>The window is narrow because PP is semi-crystalline with a sharp melting range, and because the sheet is thin enough that the surface and the core are within a few degrees of each other. There is no thermal gradient to buffer the process.<\/p>\n<p>The practical control is heater power, not heater temperature. A heater at 450 \u00b0C that is on 60 percent of the time gives a different result from a heater at 380 \u00b0C on 90 percent of the time, even though both deliver the same average energy. The second gives a more even sheet and a wider window.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">On a cup line, the sheet temperature is the only variable that matters. Measure it with an infrared pyrometer at the oven exit on every setup, and write the number down.<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"rim\">The rim, and why it decides the product<\/h2>\n<p>The rim of a cup is formed by rolling or folding the edge, either in the mould or in a separate station. It gives the cup its top-load strength and its sealing surface for a lid.<\/p>\n<p>A rim that is too thin will not hold a lid seal and will deform under stacking load. A rim that is too thick will not roll properly and will have a visible seam. The rim geometry is specific to the lid system, and changing lid supplier usually means changing the rim.<\/p>\n<p>Stacking geometry is the other hidden specification. Cups nest, and the nesting height determines how many fit in a case and how the cup behaves in a dispenser. The taper and the stacking shoulder are designed together with the rim, and a cup that is dimensionally correct but nests too deep will jam in a dispenser.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"tooling\">Tooling at speed<\/h2>\n<p>A cup tool is aluminium, water-cooled, with vacuum holes in the base and the side wall. At 30 strokes per minute the tool is opening and closing every two seconds, and the wear items are the cutting edge, the ejector and the vacuum circuit.<\/p>\n<p>The cutting station is a matched punch and die, and its condition determines the rim quality. A dull punch tears the rim instead of cutting it, and the tear is the start of a crack when the cup is filled. Punch sharpening is a scheduled maintenance item, not a response to a complaint.<\/p>\n<p>Vacuum must be sized for the leak rate, not for the cavity volume. At two-second cycles there is no time to recover from a vacuum drop, and a single blocked hole in one cavity produces one defective cup in every stroke \u2014 which at 30 strokes per minute is 1,800 cups an hour.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"defects\">Defects at line speed<\/h2>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Cacat<\/th>\n<th>Karena<\/th>\n<th>First check<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Base radius whitening<\/td>\n<td>Sheet too cold<\/td>\n<td>Oven power, pyrometer reading<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Rim too thin<\/td>\n<td>Sheet too hot or draw too deep<\/td>\n<td>Temperature, then plug<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Cup distorts when filled hot<\/td>\n<td>Residual stress from cold mould<\/td>\n<td>Raise mould temperature<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Cups jam in the dispenser<\/td>\n<td>Stacking geometry<\/td>\n<td>Stacking shoulder dimension<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Torn rim<\/td>\n<td>Dull cutting punch<\/td>\n<td>Punch condition<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Vacuum mark in the base<\/td>\n<td>Hole too large or vacuum too high<\/td>\n<td>Hole size, vacuum level<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Wall uneven around the cup<\/td>\n<td>Uneven heating across the oven<\/td>\n<td>Heater element check<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Lid does not seal<\/td>\n<td>Rim flatness<\/td>\n<td>Rim station alignment<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p class=\"tablecap\">Table 3 \u2014 PP cup defects. Two of them are tooling wear, which at line speed becomes a thousand defective cups before it is noticed.<\/p>\n<div class=\"faq\">\n<h3>How fast is a PP cup thermoforming line?<\/h3>\n<p>About 2 seconds per cycle for a 0.5 mm cup, which with 20 to 40 cavities gives 600 to 1,200 cups per minute. Heating is nearly half the cycle.<\/p>\n<h3>What is the forming temperature for PP cup sheet?<\/h3>\n<p>145 to 162 \u00b0C at the surface. Below 145 the base radius whitens; above 162 the sheet sags and the rim thins.<\/p>\n<h3>Why does my PP cup distort when filled with hot liquid?<\/h3>\n<p>Residual stress from a cold mould. A mould at 15 to 25 \u00b0C gives the shortest cycle and the least stable cup. Raise it to 40 to 60 \u00b0C for hot fill.<\/p>\n<h3>Does PP cup sheet need drying?<\/h3>\n<p>No. PP absorbs essentially no moisture. This is one of the reasons it is the cheapest cup material to run.<\/p>\n<h3>What determines the rim of a thermoformed cup?<\/h3>\n<p>The lid system. The rim is rolled or folded to give top-load strength and a sealing surface, and its geometry is specific to the lid. Changing lid supplier usually means changing the rim.<\/p>\n<h3>Why do my cups jam in a dispenser?<\/h3>\n<p>Stacking geometry. The taper and the stacking shoulder decide the nesting height, and a cup that is dimensionally correct can still nest too deep.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cta\">\n<p class=\"cta-h\">Running PP cup lines and losing yield to the window?<\/p>\n<p>Tell us the cup size, the wall and the line speed. We will tell you where the cycle time is going and what the mould temperature should be for hot fill.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn\" href=\"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/custom-vacuum-forming\/\">Talk to a thermoforming engineer<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rel\">\n<h4>Continue reading<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/pp-thin-gauge-thermoforming\/\">PP Thin Gauge Thermoforming<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/form-cut-stack-inline-thermoforming\/\">Form-Cut-Stack Inline Thermoforming<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/blister-packaging-design\/\">Blister Packaging Design<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/vacuum-forming-cooling-cycle-time\/\">Vacuum Forming Cooling Cycle Time<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/pp-injection-molding-guide\/\">PP Injection Molding Guide<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 0.5 mm polypropylene cup comes off a roll-fed line in about two seconds. At that speed the forming window is 15 \u00b0C wide and every defect is a thousand cups before anyone notices.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"PP Cup Thermoforming: Cycle Time, Forming Window and Rim","_seopress_titles_desc":"PP cup thermoforming guide: 2-second cycles, 145-162 C forming window, rim rolling, stacking geometry, tooling and the defects that scale with line speed.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"29","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vacuum-forming"],"meta_box":{"post-to-quiz_to":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7871,"href":"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7816\/revisions\/7871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uplastech.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}