Moisture Barrier Property Test Solution of Aluminum Plastic Composite Film Used for Medication

The pharmaceuticals are easily deliquesced after absorbing moisture, for which the packaging materials should be of high moisture barrier property. Aluminum plastic composite film is widely used in pharmaceutical packaging which can help extend the shelf life and guarantee the quality of the pharmaceuticals.

However, the aluminum layer may be folded during package forming, product filling, heat sealing and transportation processes and as a result the barrier property (both oxygen barrier property and water vapor barrier property) may be compromised. Therefore it is necessary to test the water vapor permeability of aluminum plastic composite film after flex durability tests to guarantee its performance of protecting the pharmaceuticals from deliquescing and deterioration.

This article provides simplified testing procedures for moisture barrier property of aluminum plastic composite film for your reference.

Flexdurability tests of specimens are performed according to ASTM 392. Thespecimens of flexible materials are flexed at standardatmospheric conditions (23°C and 50 % relative humidity),unless otherwise specified. Flexing conditions and number andseverity of flexing strokes vary with the type of structure beingtested. The flexing action consists of a twisting motion followed,in most cases, by a horizontal motion, thus, repeatedlytwisting and crushing the film. The frequency is at a rate of 45cpm.

Then the water vapor permeability of the specimens after flex durability tests will be tested. There are two categories of test methods for water vapor transmission rate i.e. gravimetric method (also known as cup method and divided into dry cup method and wet cup method) and sensor method (including electrolytic sensor method, infrared sensor method and humidity sensor method).

Let’s take a look at the detailed testing procedures.

Step 1: Flex Durability Test

Mount the aluminum plastic composite film specimens in LabthinkFDT-02 Flex Durability Tester and then perform full flex for 6 minutes i.e. 270 cycles. Condition the specimens after flex durability test (3 of each kind of specimen whose diameter should be 74mm) in the desiccant container at 23℃ for 48 hours.

Figure 1: Aluminum Plastic Composite Film after Flex Durability Test

Step 2: Water Vapor Transmission Rate Test

Add certain amount of distilled water into the test dish of LabthinkW3/030 Water Vapor Transmission Rate Tester. Then mount the specimen in the mouth of the test dish. Place the test dish into the test chamber and close the door. Then set test parameters and start test. The test will be performed automatically and the test results will be given after test.

By testing the water vapor transmission rate after flex durability tests, the user or manufacturer can determine whether the WVTR of the aluminum plastic film meet the requirements for pharmaceutical packagingespecially in production and transportation process.

For more details about FDT-02 Flex Durability Tester and W3/030 Water Vapor Transmission Rate Tester, please visit www.labthink.com

About Labthink Instruments Co., Ltd:

Labthink Instruments Co., Ltd is one leading supplier of packaging testing instruments, which is headquartered in Jinan, China and operated in Boston, U.S.A.

Heat Seal Strength of Medical Blister Packaging

Blister packaging is one of pre-formed plastic packaging, which is featured with high barrier property and widely used for protecting products against external factors, such as humidity and contamination for extended shelf life.Blister package usually has a backing of paperboard or a lidding seal of aluminum foil or plastic.

In medical industry, blister packaging is commonly used as unit-dose packaging for pharmaceutical tablets, capsules or lozenges.The medicines are held in the blister cavities, which  are separated medicines from each other. Even though one blister cavity is broken, others can keep intact. Therefore, heat seal strength of the paperboard or aluminum foil should be adequate. Otherwise when one tablet or capsule is removed from the blister package, other blister cavities may be broken and then medicine may be oxidized and damped. Therefore it is necessary to test the heat seal strength of the medical blister packaging to guarantee the quality of medicines contained inside.


How to know and make sure if the blister packaging has enough seal strength？ What manufacturers can do during the packaging producing? We will discuss these with assistance of a Tensile Testing Machines.

Step 1: Seal the rigid PVC sheet and aluminum foil with Labthink HST-H6 Heat Seal Tester under specified conditions (sealing temperature 155±5℃, sealing pressure 0.5MPa, dwell time 1 second).

Step 2: Cut 3 pieces of specimens whose length should be 15mm.

Step 3: Mount the prepared specimen in the sample grips of XLW (M) Auto Tensile Tester. Select test speed 200 mm/min and then start test. When test is finished, the instrument will calculate and record the test results automatically.

According to the test results given by the instrument, the manufacturer can determine whether the blister package can meet their requirements for packing of medicines.

For more details about XLW (M) Auto Tensile Tester and HST-H6 Heat Seal Tester, please visit www.labthink.com

About Labthink Instruments Co., Ltd:
Labthink Instruments Co., Ltd is one leading supplier of packaging testing instruments, which is headquartered in Jinan, China and operated in Boston, U.S.A.

Oxygen Barrier Property Test Solution of Black and White PE Film for Liquid Milk

Liquid milk is an important part of many people’s diet. Since a large amount of fat and protein are contained in milk, it is easily oxidized and, as a result, the quality of the milk can be compromised within its shelf life. A main cause of oxidation is potentially thepoor oxygen barrier property of the packaging materials used for liquid milk. Therefore,it is necessary to perform oxygen permeability tests with a suitable instrument to evaluate whether the film or bag has adequate oxygen barrier properties.

Currently coextruded black and white film made of PE is widely used in package for liquid milk. Such material featuresopaque, low cost, portability and environment-friendly characteristics, for which it is popular in packaging for liquid milk. The barrier property of some black and white film is quite ordinary and the shelf life of the milk using such material is usually about 30 days. In contrast, when a material with ultra-barrier property is used as the packaging material for liquid milk, the shelf life can be extended to 90 days. Therefore, it is recommended that milk manufacturers to select suitable packaging materials by testing their oxygen permeability with testing instrument.

There are two methods for oxygen permeability test. They are the differential pressure method and the equal pressure method. The former will be elaborated in this article.

With differential pressure method, the sample is mounted in a gas transmission cell so as to form a sealed semi-barrier between two chambers. One chamber contains the test gas at a specific high pressure, and the other chamber, at a lower pressure, receives the oxygen. The oxygen will be detected by either a manometric sensor or a volumetric sensor. 

Labthink VAC-V2 Gas Permeability Tester adopts differential pressure method, which is used as the testing instrument to test the oxygen transmission rate of the black and white PE film specimens in the tests mentioned hereinafter.

The tests can be performed according to the following procedures.

1)    Condition the black and white PE film samples in a desiccant container at 23℃ for 48 hours. Then cut 3 pieces of round specimens whose diameter should be 97mm.

2)    Mount the specimens in the test chamber and clamp the specimens tightly.

3)    Set test parameters including control parameters and specimen parameters.

4)    Start the test. The test humidity can be adjusted in testing process if necessary.

5)    The tests will be performed automatically and test results can be obtained when the tests are finished.

According to the test results, the manufacturer or user of black and white PE film can determine whether the packaging material can meet their requirements for liquid milk package.

For more details about VAC-V2 Gas Permeability Tester, please visit www.labthink.com

About Labthink Instruments Co., Ltd:

Labthink Instruments Co., Ltd is one leading supplier of packaging testing instruments, which is headquartered in Jinan, China and operated in Boston, U.S.A.

Packaging Physical and Mechanical Properties Testing

the Physical and Mechanical Properties, like Tensile Strength, Hot Tack , COF, can improve the package quality, efficiency and reliability. Labthink packaging labs provide a wide range of testing, processing and consultancy services to measure and improve the mechanical and physical properties of packaging materials. Experts evaluate packaging material during processing, storage and usage testing. Labthink testing services apply to a wide range of packaging and packaging materials.

Mechanical and physical packaging tests:

• Hot Tack Testing
• Tensile testing
• Coefficient of Friction
• Gelbo-Flex
• Seal and Peel Tests
• Abrasion Resistance
• Tear, Flexural and Impact Properties
• Seal Strength and Puncture Resistance
• Peel Testing

Labthink also provides testing equipment for Packaging Mechanical and Physical Properties analysis. 

Heat Seal Parameters of Flexible Polymer Film and Finished Package Seal Integrity

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. Measurement of heat sealing parameters is done by creating “controlled seals” on a calibrated Laboratory Heat Sealer according to ASTM F2029, then peeling the seal apart with a Seal Strength Tester at a controlled rate to measure either Ultimate Seal Strength (after cooling, method ASTM F-88) or Hot Tack Strength (peel tested within 150ms of the seal being formed, method ASTM F1921). By varying the sealing temperature and dwell time, the optimum sealing conditions can be found. In studies the third variable, sealing pressure, was found to have little impact after reaching a certain level.

For finished packs, common practice is to perform off-line package integrity quality checks every 15 to 30 minutes. The most common method being a manual squeeze test to feel & see if the pack deflates under the pressure of the operators hand. Other more objective methods include bubble leak testing (submerging packs in a water chamber/vacuum to visually watch for bubbles coming from the inflated pack), inflation testing (packs placed in vacuum chamber to visually check if the inflated pack deflates over a defined time), and blue dye penetration testing (passing a blue dye solution over the seals inside empty packs to observe capillary ingress into seal faults). These methods have the advantage of low capital cost, but are limited to somewhat subjective qualitative pass/fail data.

Another objective and quantitative method for seal strength testing is according to ASTM F2054 (increasing the internal pressure of a pack until seal failure)

Packaging Testing - Gas Permeability Tester---Film Test

Scope

i-Gastra 7100 GasPermeability Tester is designed to determine the gas transmission rate, solubility coefficient, diffusion coefficient, and permeability coefficient of plastic material in the forms of films, composite films, high barrier materials, sheets, and aluminum foils

Test Procedures

A: Prepare test specimens according to specific standards. 

B: Apply vacuum grease to the outer surface evenly 2 mm around the groove in the lower test chamber.

C: Place a piece of filter paper (diameter is 65mm) in the hollow groove and then place the prepared specimen on the lower test chamber. Make sure the test specimen contacts the lower test chamber tightly.

D: Close the upper test chamber and tighten it.

E: Set up the temperature controller so that the temperature required for the test could be reached. It is necessary to check the leak tightness of the water path. 

F: Connect the vacuum pump with ripple tube and its components. Do not change the default settings of the vacuum pump which has been setup before shipment.

G: Set up test parameters, start the test and turn on the vacuum pump. 

H: View the test results and reports. If necessary, repeat the above procedures to perform another round of tests. Turn off the vacuum pump when the vacuumizing process is finished.

Professional Gas Permeation Tester

Labthink develops and provides professional gas permeation tester for packaging materials.

Based on different test methods, Labthink has two kinds of gas permeation testers -- equal pressure testers and differential pressure testers.

Basically, equal pressure method is used oxygen sensor to measure oxygen permeability through a specimen. OX2/230 Gas Permeability tester is based on this test method and adopts labthink lastest patent design -- three test cells in one instrument.


VAC series gas permeation testers are right based on differential pressure method and has three models -- VAC-V1, VAC-V2, VAC-V3 because they can test different number of specimen.

Labthink Instruments Co., Ltd

144 Wuyingshan Road, Jinan, P.R.China
Phone:	+86-531-85068566
FAX:	+86-531-85812140
Email:	trade.en@labthink.cn
Website:	http://www.labthinkinternational.com.cn