Food & Flexible Packaging
Why Impact Resistance Matters in Food Packaging
In the food industry, packaging integrity is non-negotiable. A bag of rice bursting on a pallet, a snack pouch leaking oil, or a frozen dumpling package cracking in the cold chain all translate directly into product loss, hygiene issues, and brand damage. Traditional tensile or seal-strength tests cannot fully capture “real-life” drop and puncture events. The falling dart impact test provides a more realistic measure of film toughness under sudden impact.
By running ASTM D1709 / ISO 7765-1 impact tests with the MLB-01, manufacturers can quantify the exact impact energy at which their packaging films start to fail. This allows QA teams to set reliable specifications and correlate lab data with customer complaints and field performance.
Optimized for Thin and Medium Films (Method A)
For standard composite films used in snacks, dairy, and grain packaging—typically below 1 mm in thickness—ASTM D1709 and ISO 7765-1 recommend Method A. Method A uses a 38 mm hemispherical dart dropped from 0.66 m to evaluate moderate impact levels on flexible films.
With the MLB-01, Method A testing delivers:
- High sensitivity: 0.1 g measurement resolution (≈0.1 J) makes it possible to detect subtle changes in film thickness, resin blend, or adhesive layer that may not show up in simple visual checks.
- Batch QC efficiency: Pneumatic clamping and foot-pedal operation speed up sample loading, enabling QC labs to test many samples per shift before reels are released to the packing lines.
- Stable, repeatable results: A heavy 20 mm aluminum base and centered dart release reduce variability, so changes in impact resistance can be traced to the film—not to test noise.
Typical Food Packaging Use Cases
- Snack and dry food bags: PET/PE or PET/NY/PE laminates for chips, nuts, and biscuits, where downgauging must be balanced against drop resistance.
- Frozen food bags: PA/PE or multi-layer structures that become more brittle at low temperatures; Method A tests can be combined with -20 °C conditioning to simulate cold-chain reality.
- Powder and grain bags: Larger FFS (form–fill–seal) bags where localized puncture by corners or pallet edges can be a critical failure mode.
