Peel strength test of medical packages

When designing medical packaging, certain quality-related factors need to be considered. The packaging needs to be easy to open for frail hands and hands wearing gloves. Apart from that, quality packaging also prevents the medical device inside the packaging from breaking or being damaged during the opening. Consumers expect a product seal to be strong enough to keep the product sterile, yet easy enough to peel without causing spillages or inconsistencies in peel strength.

To perform a peel test, universal testing equipment is employed that is included with special fixtures positioned at different angles with respect to the base of the equipment. The material, whose packaging is to be tested, is positioned in such a way that the backing film and the product container are positioned both vertically, one vertically and one horizontally or both axially. The flexible material is pulled away from the non-flexible material by applying a tension load or force. These peel tests are generally performed at 0°, 45°, and 90° using the General Peel Jig. The test is performed based on the position of the fixture relative to the base of the instrument.

The test begins with inserting the free end of the flexible material into the grip of the fixture and positioning the product container on the fixture platform using the thumb screws. The product container is held from the neck region to fasten the product into a fixed position for testing. The testing equipment connects the grip by a string and applies a gradually increasing tensile force to the flexible material. It peels away the protective material from the product container and the force required to peel the flexible material away is measured in this process. This force thus represents the bond strength between container and seal.

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