Latest News
Important Factors in Permeation Testing
Posted on 24/01/2014
by Phil Neal
WHAT IS PERMEATION?
Graham’s Colloidal Diffusion illustrates the three-step process of permeation through a material. The first step is the sorption of the permeant into the material. Next, the permeant diffuses through the material followed by the final step where it is desorbed from the other side. This entire process is driven by a concentration difference or gradient. Molecules will permeate from the high concentration side of the material to the low concentration side. This will continue until both sides are at equal concentration levels. Learn More...A new standard in Oxygen Analysis
Posted on 22/10/2013
by Phil Neal
The OpTech-O²-Platinum is a non-destructive Oxygen analysis device with 3 test modes for measuring headspace O², dissolved O² in a liquid and barrier film O² permeation properties.
Because the sensor does not consume any gas, measurements can be repeated on the same pack to create an O² v Time profile over the product shelf life. Applications include modified atmosphere food packaging, beverage containers, and pharma/medical packs, in both R&D and QC environments.
- Quality Control checks of MAP packs, single value or time profile
- For liquid contents, measure headspace O² and dissolved O²
- O² permeation rate of packages & films, including porous & perforated films
- Very small headspace volume packs, and vacuum packs
- Determine shelf life for an Oxygen sensitive product
Heat Seal Parameters of Flexible Polymer Film and Finished Package Seal Integrity - Quality Control inspection issues
Posted on 15/10/2013
by Phil Neal
For many products, the impact of packaging on shelf life and product safety is critical to success. Packaging technical teams will carefully specify packaging material characteristics in terms of functional and barrier properties, for example Oxygen Transmission Rate for an oxygen sensitive product. Despite this, the highest risk to pack integrity and shelf life can be failures in the pack heat seals or closures.
Heat Seal parameters are easily measured; Heat Sealability = Temperature + Pressure + Time. Yet maintaining optimum heat sealing conditions in production and recognising the true cause of poor sealing remains a challenge. Learn More...
New carton tester - a first for complete cartons
Posted on 18/09/2013
by Phil Neal
The new 3-in-1 Newton Laboratory Carton Tester (LCT) from Cerulean is the first equipment to quality test a whole carton.
The LCT carton tester is easy to use and provides highly accurate and realistic quality results for cartons up to 590mm wide and 8mm thick . It also speeds up testing by removing additional carton sample preparation and equipment.
The Newton LCT combines three essential quality control tests to measure crease strength and box-forming force. It also measures slip resistance and friction properties to eliminate carton sticking and feeding problems during high speed packing.
Analysis and reporting through the LCT’s graphic user interface provides data that enables users at all stages of carton production and packing to predict performance and improve packing speeds. The LCT helps improve supplier performance, facilitates consistent carton quality, reduces downtime and minimises waste.
The system is suitable for cartons made from corrugated, paper board and waxed carton board. It measures the torque required to bend a crease or form a box, providing an instantaneous curve that shows the torque for every degree of deflection. This provides easy comparison between sites, batches and carton types to help achieve overall quality consistency.
Physical Testing of Medical Packaging
Posted on 27/08/2013
by Phil Neal
Ed Emerson, Business Development Manager at Mocon Medical Packaging Group, discusses the challenges of maintaining a 'sterile barrier system' over a products entire shelf life.
Responsibility for maintaining safety and sterility is shared by development engineers, packaging developers, packaging managers, product managers, and quality auditors. A traditional way of testing a package’s sterile barrier system at any point in its life has been to bathe it in a contaminated solution and then test by culturing the contents to be sure that microbes have not penetrated the package. While workable, this microbial challenge testing has several drawbacks. Learn More...