Permeability of Packaging Materials and Polymer Films
Packaging materials and polymer films are intended to provide a barrier against adverse climatic conditions to prevent the loss or adsorption of moisture by the packaged product.
The decisive criterion here is the water vapor permeability. In addition, moisture adsorption by the packaging material itself plays an important role in ensuring its functionality.
For that reason, knowledge of water vapor sorption and permeability is essential to adapt a packaging material to the respective requirements.
With the help of dynamic water vapor sorption analyses and the specially developed ProUmid Permeability Kit, the Inverted-Wet-Cup Kit and the Large Object Kit these characteristics can be determined easily.
Application notes
Water vapor permeability of films
The Application note presents a method for the determination of the water vapor permeability using dynamic water vapor sorption measurements. Principle of the method, set up of the experiment as well as evaluation of the results is shown using the example of wrapping films and aluminum foil. Furthermore, the influence of the ambient humidity on water vapor transition rate is shown.
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Inverted-Wet-Cup: Water vapor permeability of materials in direct contact with a liquid
Inverted-Wet-Cup analysis is the method of choice for measuring the water vapor permeability of a material that is in direct contact with a liquid, such as for example packaging materials. The application note presents the setup and sample preparation of the experiment and explains the evaluation and calculation of the water vapor permeability using the example of packaging materials in contact with various liquid substances.
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Water vapor sorption of product packages
The water vapor sorption behavior of several candy packages was analyzes using the Large Object Kit. Results show the influence of the packaging material on the moisture sorption behavior. Furthermore, the effect of an additional foil wrapping on moisture sorption is shown.
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Shelf-life calculation of dry food products
It is essential to know the product shelf-life to guarantee safety and quality. Storage conditions such as temperature and relative humidity play an important role, especially for dry products. In order to show the influence of these parameters on shelf-life, several dry products were examined using dynamic water vapor sorption. The critical conditions were additionally verified by image analysis. In addition to the product properties, the packaging also has a major influence on the shelf-life of a product. The relevant parameter here is the water vapor permeability of the material (WVTR). This value was determined using the Permeability Kit. Based on these parameters, this white paper shows a method for calculating the possible storage time and thus for estimating the shelf-life of a packaged dry product.
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Literature references for building material applications with the ProUmid DVS instruments
Sandra Kiese, et al. “Time-dependent water vapor permeation through multilayer barrier films: Empirical versus theoretical results” Thin Solid Films 672, 199-205, 2019. DOI
Martina Lindner, et al. “Hygroexpansion, Surface Roughness and Porosity Affect the Electrical Resistance of EVOH-Aluminum- Coated Paper” Coatings 9, 295, 2019. DOI
Markus Schmid, et al. “Impact of Hydrolyzed Whey Protein on the Molecular Interactions and Cross-Linking Density in Whey Protein Isolate-Based Films” International Journal of Polymer Science, 2016. DOI
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