ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Film blowing machine

Let's imagine that you want to make some balloons. You have a big bag of plastic material that you want to turn into a long tube-like shape, like a sausage. This is where a film blowing machine comes in handy!

First, you take the plastic material and feed it into the machine. The machine has a big screw inside it that turns and pushes the plastic material towards a heating section. This is kind of like putting the plastic material into a hot oven to melt it down.

Once the plastic material is melted, it is pushed through a small hole at the bottom of the heating section. The hole is kind of like a small door that only allows a certain amount of melted plastic to pass through at a time. This creates a thin film of plastic that is shaped like a tube.

Now comes the fun part! The machine has a fan that blows air into the tube, making it stretch and expand like a balloon. The machine keeps pushing out more melted plastic through the small hole and the tube keeps growing longer and longer. It's kind of like blowing air into a balloon to make it bigger and bigger.

Once the tube has reached the desired size and thickness, it can be cut to the right length and the ends can be sealed to make balloons! This is just one example of what you can make with a film blowing machine. It's a handy tool for creating all sorts of plastic film products, from plastic bags to packaging materials and more.