Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2026-04-13 Origin: Site
PE self-adhesive material is also known as polyethylene material (abbreviated as PE). This material has excellent flexibility and good resistance to compression, and is suitable for curved or compressed objects. It is a common film-type label material.
Product features
With excellent adhesion and outstanding resistance to compression
The material is odorless, non-toxic and environmentally friendly.
Waterproof, oil-resistant, and maintaining a certain degree of flexibility even in low-temperature environments.
Application fields
It is often used as the information label for daily care products such as cosmetics and cleaning products like shampoo and body wash, which require squeezing during use and have certain moisture resistance requirements.
To help you better distinguish, here we have made a comparison between PE and two other common film materials:
Characteristic Dimension | PE (Polyethylene) | PP/PET (Polypropylene/Polyester) | Synthetic paper / coated paper |
|---|---|---|---|
Softness | Very soft, prone to deformation, and resistant to compression | More rigid, not prone to deformation, suitable for flat or hard bottle bodies | Paper is relatively hard, while PE is much softer than ordinary paper |
Stiffness / Strength | Poor tensile strength and low tear resistance. It needs to be thickened for use (usually 80-120 μm) | High tensile strength, resistant to stretching, highly durable. PET is resistant to high temperatures and corrosion | Copperplate paper is not water-resistant and is prone to tearing |
Transparency | The transparency is average. There are two types: transparent and bright white | PET and PP have excellent transparency. After application, they give a "no-label" feeling | Usually in white or with a paper-like effect |
Typical application | Shampoo, body wash, etc. squeeze-type tubes/bottle bodies | Electronic products, electrical appliances, industrial instructions, high-end food | General logistics, food packaging, price tags |
High flexibility and resistance to squeezing: This is the most notable advantage of PE. It is extremely soft and possesses excellent extensibility, allowing the label to conform to the shape of the soft tube or squeezable bottle body without easily lifting or cracking.
Lower tensile strength: Although soft, PE material is relatively "fragile." It has poor tear resistance and stiffness, making it prone to tearing. Therefore, if the material is too soft during automatic labeling, issues such as misaligned labels may occur.
Environmental Friendliness and Weather Resistance: The material is typically non-toxic and odorless, with waterproof and oil-resistant properties, maintaining a certain degree of flexibility in both humid and low-temperature environments.
To better understand the positioning of PE, it is systematically compared with two mainstream film materials, PP and PET:
Performance dimension | PE (Polyethylene) | PP（Polypropylene/BOPP） | PET (Polyester) |
|---|---|---|---|
Softness | Very soft and with good elasticity | High rigidity, not prone to deformation | Hard, with almost no ductility |
Resistance to compression | Excellent, capable of deforming along with the bottle body | Generally, it is prone to come off when squeezed. | Poor quality. Easily cracked under pressure. |
Stiffness / Compliance | Poor (requires thickening or blending for improvement) | Outstanding | Outstanding |
Transparency | Generally | Outstanding | Outstanding |
Thermal stability | Generally | Generally | Outstanding |
Resistant to chemical corrosion | Good | Good | Outstanding |
Main application scenarios | Compression-type bottle body, curved surface labeling | Hard plastic bottle body, transparent label | Electronic products, industrial labels |
Typical thickness | 80-100μm | 50-80μm | 25-50μm |
Due to these characteristics, PE adhesive labels are primarily used on packaging of daily chemical products that require frequent squeezing or have curved surfaces
Household Chemicals and Personal Care: HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene) containers for shampoo, shower gel, laundry detergent, and similar products.
Cosmetics: Some cosmetics packaged in soft tubes.
Others: Cleaning supplies, labels for some waterproof products
Daily chemical and personal care products
Daily chemical products are the largest application market for PE stickers, mainly including:
Shampoo, shower gel, and conditioner: These products are often packaged in HDPE or PET squeeze bottles, and consumers need to repeatedly squeeze the bottle body during use. PE labels can perfectly adapt to this usage habit and are standard for such products.
Laundry detergent and fabric softener: Large capacity laundry detergent bottles also require squeezing to extract the liquid, and PE labels are commonly used.
Cosmetic hose: The hose packaging of facial cleanser, lotion and other products requires very high flexibility of labels, and PE material is the mainstream choice.
In the field of daily chemical products, the design sense of labels is directly related to brand image. White PE labels provide excellent color expression and are suitable for color printing; Transparent PE labels can create a high-end visual effect of "label free feeling"; Matte PE labels are paired with frosted bottle bodies to present a simple and elegant brand tone.
In the field of food and beverage, PE adhesive is mainly used for:
Sauce and seasoning hose packaging: Squeezed hoses for products such as tomato sauce, salad dressing, honey, etc., with labeling requirements similar to those for daily chemical products.
Refrigerated food: PE's low temperature resistance and waterproof properties make it suitable for labeling refrigerated and frozen food.
Beverage bottle body: Some beverage bottles (especially sports drinks and functional drinks) adopt a shaped bottle body design, requiring the surface adaptability of PE labels. However, the beverage industry tends to use transparent PP labels because PP has higher transparency, better stiffness, and significant cost advantages
