6-Step Method: Webinar 5. Cushioned package development

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Once the package design is completed, the prototype package system is tested to ensure that all design goals were met.

Shock – Package testing

The package must be able to fall from the design drop height, set in STEP 1, and transmit less than the critical acceleration to the unit. An accelerometer mounted to a rigid portion of the product near the center of gravity can be used to monitor the acceleration level transmitted through the cushioning material into the product. A rigid location is selected so that the input to the product as a whole can be observed during the impact, and thus directly compared to the results of the Step Acceleration test. It may be desirable to monitor additional locations during the tests, such as certain critical components, however the only effective way evaluate package performance is to monitor a rigid location. Packaging itself does not directly change the response of the product to a given input, but it can modify the input which eventually reaches the product.

Flat drops are usually thought to be the most severe drops possible in terms of the acceleration level transmitted to the product. Flat drops focus all of the input along one axis of the unit and little energy is lost to the crushing of corners or edges of the package, or to package rotation. Flat drops, therefore, are used to measure the performance of the package system.

Corner and edge drops, however, often cause damage to the structure of the package which similar flat drops do not. These types of drops are often used as part of a test sequence to verify the package’s ability to hold together during shipment.

Lansmont, along with Alluris, James Heal and Mecmesin are PPT Group brands.