Materials Testing
Packaging materials that fail to meet safety and durability standards—whether by allowing harmful chemical leaks or succumbing to the rigors of transportation—can expose businesses to costly recalls and potential legal consequences. Our rigorous materials testing and analysis ensures your packaging is both secure and reliable.
What Is Materials Testing?
Ensuring Strength and Reliability in Challenging Conditions
During shipping, handling, and storage, packaging materials are exposed to extreme temperatures, compression, vibration, impact, shock, drop, reduced pressure, and changes in altitude. Materials testing assesses the mechanical, physical, and chemical properties of packaging components to provide valuable insights into their strength, flexibility, and resistance to environmental factors.
Here at Purple Diamond, we offer expert materials testing services designed to evaluate the strength, durability, and adaptability of a wide range of packaging components. From adhesives to corrugated fiberboard, cushioning materials, and tensile strength evaluations, our comprehensive testing solutions provide the insights needed to enhance packaging design, ensure product protection, and meet industry standards.
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Adhesives Materials Testing
Test Methods for Adhesive Materials:
- ASTM D903 - Peel or Stripping Strength of Adhesive Bonds
- ASTM D1876 - Peel Resistance of Adhesives
- ASTM D3330/D3330M - Peel Adhesion of Pressure-Sensitive Tape
- ASTM D1894 - Static and Kinetic Coefficients of Friction of Plastic Film and Sheeting
Corrugated Materials Testing
Corrugated materials are often subjected to compressive forces and run the risk of damage when exposed to moisture or environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity. During corrugated materials testing, our experts calculate the maximum compression forces that the material can endure. The data collected during testing of corrugated materials can be used to improve packaging systems, optimize shipping costs, and create more sustainable packaging solutions.
Test Methods for Corrugated Materials:
- TAPPI T403 - Bursting Strength of Paper
- TAPPI T441 - Water Absorptiveness of Sized (Non-Bibulous) Paper, Paperboard, and Corrugated Fiberboard (Cobb Test)
- TAPPI T810 - Bursting Strength of Corrugated and Solid Fiberboard
- TAPPI T821 - Pin Adhesion of Corrugated Board by Selective Separation
- TAPPI T839 - Edgewise Compressive Strength of Corrugated Fiberboard Using the Clamp Method (Short Column Test)
Cushioning Materials Testing
While a product’s weight, density, general size, and other attributes will help decide the right kind of cushioning to use, how much and which type(s) of cushioning to use requires expert understanding of the benefits of various kinds of cushioning. Cushioning materials testing evaluates packaging characteristics like density, flexibility, dimensional stability, and anti-static treatment to help protect your products from shock and vibration during transport.
Test Methods for Cushioning Materials:
- ASTM D1596 - Dynamic Shock Cushioning Characteristics of Packaging Material
- ASTM D2221 - Creep Properties of Package Cushioning Materials
- ASTM D3332 - Mechanical-Shock Fragility of Products, Using Shock Machines
- ASTM D3576 - Cell Size of Rigid Cellular Plastics
Tensile Materials Testing
Tensile materials testing is one of the most important packaging material evaluations for almost any product packaging. By deciding the force needed to stretch a certain material to its breaking point, specific material properties, like yield strength, can be determined to better inform packaging design and make predictions about material and product behaviors in different environments or conditions. Tensile testing may be used for packaging material types such as metals, alloys, composites, polymers, ceramics, plastics, wood, and more.
Test Methods for Tensile Materials:
- ASTM D412 - Vulcanized Rubber and Thermoplastic Elastomers – Tension
- ASTM D638 - Tensile Properties of Plastics
- ASTM D1708 - Tensile Properties of Plastics by Use of Microtensile Specimens
- ASTM D3759/D3759M - Breaking Strength and Elongation of Pressure-Sensitive Tape
- TAPPI T494 - Tensile Properties of Paper and Paperboard (Using Constant Rate of Elongation Apparatus)
Ready to Optimize Your Packaging Materials?
Protect your products, reduce risks, and enhance performance. Ensure your packaging materials meet the highest standards of durability, safety, and reliability with Purple Diamond’s comprehensive materials testing services.
Why Purple Diamond?
At Purple Diamond, our expert engineers perform rigorous materials testing to better understand and improve on the properties that protect your packaged products. In our dedicated, ISO-certified Materials Laboratory, we can evaluate the strength and fragility of plastics or films, corrugated materials, labels or adhesives, and paper materials to ensure they meet the highest standards of performance, reliability, and suitability to support and protect your products effectively.
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Looking for a Packaging Partner?
Whether you’re looking for a team of experts to engineer your new packaging product for optimal sustainability, or seeking a team who can ensure your products stay safe and secure during transport, Purple Diamond can help.
