According to the different production methods, PET containers can be divided into two categories: PET blow molding containers and PET thermoforming containers. In PET blow molding containers, there are two kinds of PET direct extrusion blow molding containers and PET bidirectional stretch blow molding containers. There are APET containers (non-crystalline PET sheet thermoforming containers) and CPET containers (crystalline PET sheet thermoforming containers).

PET direct extrusion blow molding containers are made of special high-viscosity PET resin by conventional extrusion blow molding process, and have been used in small containers such as eye medicine bottles. Since the production of PET direct blow molding containers requires the use of specific high-viscosity PET resin, the cost of raw materials is high, and the produced containers have no special advantages (mechanical strength, barrier property, etc., are also worse than PET two-way stretch blow molding containers), with the improvement and progress of PET two-way stretch bottle production process and equipment, the production of direct extrusion PET bottles is rare.

PET biaxial stretch blow molding containers are the main varieties of PET containers, which occupy a large proportion in PET containers, such as PET biaxial stretch blow molding bottles in the United States, which account for more than 90% of the entire PET container volume, and there are similar situations in China. The production process of PET bidirectional stretch blow molding bottles is usually to obtain a tube shaped PET blank by injection molding method, and then to achieve a temperature suitable for blow molding by cooling, heating (or temperature control treatment), and longitudinally stretch it with a stretching rod and blow molded with compressed air to produce the final product. According to the different configuration of the preform manufacturing and stretch blow molding device, PET stretch blow molding has a one-step method (the preform manufacturing and blow molding two devices are configured in the same molding equipment, and the PET from the particle to the product is completed in the same equipment) and a two-step method (the preform molding and stretch blow molding are respectively carried out in two equipment). No matter what kind of molding method is used, the PET biaxial stretch blow molding bottles currently used in production are mainly small bottles with a capacity of less than 1.5L, and the volume of the largest PET biaxial stretch blow molding bottle is only about 20L. The use of bidirectional stretch blow molding method, both can blow small mouth bottles or blow wide mouth bottles to meet the needs of different items packaging, the most widely used in the production of PET bidirectional stretch bottles.

APET containers are made of non-crystalline PET (APET) sheets by thermoforming, so only open containers such as boxes, cups and plates can be made. APE has very similar molding performance to PVC sheet, can be PVC sheet molding used in vacuum molding equipment, mold and molding process unchanged for APET sheet molding, and APET container has the same advantages of high transparency, high gloss and so on PVC container, but also has the PVC container does not have, good environmental adaptability. Therefore, APET containers are considered to be an ideal alternative to PVC sheet thermoforming containers.