Laboratory → Packaging
Barrier, integrity and transit
Packaging work at PERMEON exists to answer one question: is the pack the reason the product fails? Three groups of measurement separate the pack from the recipe.
Permeation — OTR and WVTR
Oxygen transmission is measured coulometrically to ASTM F1927 and water vapour transmission by modulated infrared sensor to ASTM F1249, both at controlled humidity. We run flat film where a specification needs confirming, and whole packages wherever the format allows.
The difference matters. A laminate quoted at 2 cm³/m²/day flat will often measure materially higher once it has been thermoformed into a tray with a 40 mm draw, because the wall thins at the corners. Reporting the rate per pack as well as per square metre is what makes the number usable.
- 23 °C standard, with humidity arms from 0 to 90 %RH
- Flat film, formed tray, pouch and finished retail pack
- Results in both per-square-metre and per-pack terms
- Repeat cells run on separate instruments where a figure is disputed
Seal integrity
We run four integrity methods and normally recommend at least two, because they fail differently. A burst test finds gross weakness; dye penetration finds channels; vacuum decay finds the leak a burst test can pressurise shut; creep finds the seal that holds for a day and separates over a fortnight.
Where a failure is contested we section the seal and photograph it. An argument about whether a contamination event was a process fault or a material fault is usually settled by the cross-section.
- Burst and creep to ASTM F1140
- Dye penetration to ASTM F1929
- Vacuum decay to ASTM F2338
- Seal cross-section photography on request
Transit and distribution
Distribution simulation to ASTM D4169 applies the vibration, drop and compression sequence appropriate to the route. For chilled products we run the sequence at temperature, since board strength and seal behaviour both change at 4 °C in ways that a 20 °C test will not show.
Where the protocol allows, surviving packs go straight into the storage trial. It costs a little more in sample count and it is the only way to get a shelf life that belongs to a pack which has actually travelled.
- Route-matched distribution cycles
- Chilled-temperature testing for cold chain formats
- Post-transit packs carried into the storage study
- Failure modes photographed and described individually
Three things we are asked to settle most often
Is it the film or the fill?
Running permeation on the pack alongside a micro arm on the contents separates a barrier problem from a process problem, usually within one trial.
Can we downgauge?
We measure the current pack and the candidate under identical conditions and report both, so the comparison is not between a new measurement and an old specification sheet.
Why does it fail in summer?
Humidity arms and abuse-temperature storage reproduce the seasonal failure that a 23 °C standard condition hides.