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In the marketing the psychology
of the colour throw its weight
around, since from our birth our
minds are programmed to
answer to the input colours give
us. A demographic research on
colour demonstrates how impor-
tant our visive perceptions are,
the colour is the fundamental of
visual code, it helps us to under-
stand reality, transmit moods,
interact with our nervous system,
influences our perceptions, our
judgment and our sensations.
Each colour can communicate a
precise feeling and have a
psychological effect.
For example in a supermarket the
colour connected to each sector is
studied in every detail and the customers declared that the colour is the main element that bring to the
choice of one product instead of another.
Following the Trend of the
American Red Cup
R
ed is the colour of the fire, is the co-
lour of passion, can symbolize
warmth and with his different shades
can mean the power of attraction, but
also danger, it’s even the colour of the
devil. Can mean courage and innovati-
on. It’s the first colour of the rainbow,
the first colour the infant identify and
the first colour every people have na-
med.
And red is the colour chosen for the ico-
nic American PP cup. The classic big size
disposable beverage holder anyone can
remember in any US movie or TV series,
half-filled with any sort of drink or
crushed and thrown away.
This that might seem only a simple ob-
ject with a very few economical value, is
a real piece of technology and enginee-
ring. It has been studied in every aspect,
the perfect shape, so that can be stacked
without clung together but a shape that,
at the same time, can be easily removed
from the mould during the production.
The curved lip to avoid one cup from
sinking too tightly to the next, the bot-
tom more rigid to allow more air flow
between the stacked cups, the rigidity of
the cup itself so that the cup doesn’t
bend when filled, but also doesn’t have
too much grip.
WM Thermoforming Machines in the
last year has followed the American
trend of the big size red PP cup. A total
of four In-line plants have been deliver-
ed, two of them for the American mar-
ket where this type of production is “tra-
ditional”, the other two in Europe, whe-
re the big red cup is a new tendency.
The In-line plants are the model INTEC FT
34
Thermoforming
Extrusion 5/2017
900/3, which start the process from the
automatic dosing and feeding of the PP
granules and finish its work with the re-
cycling of the scraps which are reduced
to flakes and re-sent to the dosing unit
at the end of the line.
The line is equipped with the new extru-
sion group manufactured completely by
WM Thermoforming Machines, the
N.EXT 75 which has a screw diameter of
75 mm and two co-extruders N.EXT 45
with a diameter of 45 mm. The total ex-
trusion capacity of the group is
1,096 kg/h.
The process continues with the flat die
head of the extrusion that feeds a verti-
cal laminating calender composed by
three rolls which produce the extruded
sheet having a width of 930 mm and a
thickness ranging from 0.2 to 2 mm.
The sheet is then transported in line
through a toothed chains system to the
thermoforming machine model FT 900,
where the products take shape. The FT