Product Fragility Testing
Fragility testing is a tool that delivers quantitative documentation of a product's shock and vibration limits. For complex, fragile or vulnerable products, fragility testing and vibration testing are critical stages in product development, and in packaging design and development. For complex products, package design and materials selection is dependent on technical definition of the products ability to withstand shock and vibration.
Pira is at the forefront in understanding the techncial processes and laboratory measurement techniques used in packaging development for instruments, electronics, machinery and equipment. Often the packaging solution for these products is based on an expanded foam cushion design, but in some circumstances corrugated cushions or pulp solutions can be implemented. Pira's experts are familiar with the range of cushioning materials and cushion curve date for expanded packaging foams including polyethylene (EPE), polyurethane (EPU), polypropylene (EPP) and polystyrene (EPS).
Optimization of Packaging for Complex Products
Pira International's laboratories are equipment with shock testing capabilities to assess a products damage boundary, and vibration testing equipment to determine product resonant frequency analysis and response. The data from this laboratory analysis is a critical input for packaging design - please see our 'package design for fragile products' page for further details.
Laboratory product fragility assessment and technical pack design are the most effective route to deliver an optimized packaging solution for a complex product. The optimized solution is that which delivers lowest total cost, consdiering materials costs, cubic volume utilization, packing time, ease of unpacking, damage costs and cost of returns. For packs that have not been designed in this way, savings can often be delivered and more sustainable packaging solutions can be implemented.
Shock Testing
In terms of shock, the role of packaging is to bridge the gap between the shock level that the unpackaged product can withstand, and the shock that will result from drop impacts occuring in real life (as a result of shipment and handling). For example an instrument may have a fragility threshold of 40g, but when dropped in real life (as occurs during shipment and handling) a shock far greater than 40g would be imparted to the product. The packaging must be designed specifically to maintain the shock level experienced by the product below 40g for drops up to a maximum height expected in real life. This is achieved by proper selection of cushioning material using cushion curve data, and careful pack design to manage where the material is located around the product.
Vibration Testing
In terms of vibration, the packaging must reduce or elminate any vibration frequencies that occur in real life, but for which the product is specifically vulnerable. For example an assembly of circuit boards may have a resonance in one axis at a frequency range corresponding to the natural frequency of a sprung suspension systems in a road vehicle - the packaging must be designed specifically to counter this resonance issue within the product; this is achieved by proper selection of cushioning material and pack design.
It is important to note that using more material to cover for a lack of technical approach is a false economy. Over-packaging is not a 'quick fix' solution: over-packing, or inappropriate packaging, can cause as many problems as it attempts
to resolve by introducing unexpected resonance and damage, and causes an unnecessary cost burden.
Pira International is also recognised as an expert provider of services in shipping and handling environment characterization (also called vibration and shock field data recording). This is the measurement and definition of the shipping environment in order to determine technically the shock and vibration inputs that the packaged product will experience in real life.