1960年由美国人马克·沙瓦纳发明。当初只是想设计一款新型立体墙纸。一天，当他乘坐飞机时看到窗外的云朵，感觉云朵就像是用来保护飞机安全着陆的，受此启发，他制造出了塑料气泡膜。由于具有防震、防潮、防磨损等性能，气泡膜很快成为广受欢迎的包装材料。 后来，由于很多人喜欢捏破气泡膜上的泡泡，因此气泡膜又被人们赋予了缓解心理压力的功能。如今，气泡膜的专利拥有者美国希悦尔公司在52个国家和地区拥有超过1.7万名员工，每年靠气泡膜获得40多亿美元收入。
It was invented by American Mark Shawana in 1960. I just wanted to design a new type of three-dimensional wallpaper. One day, when he was flying in an airplane, he saw clouds outside the window. It felt like they were used to protect the airplane from landing safely. Inspired by this, he made plastic bubble film. Because of its anti-shock, moisture-proof, anti-wear and other properties, bubble film soon became a popular packaging material. Later, because many people like to pinch the bubbles on the bubble film, so the bubble film has been given the function of relieving psychological pressure. Today, the patentee of bubble membranes, Hitchell, USA, has more than 17,000 employees in 52 countries and regions, earning more than $4 billion a year from bubble membranes.