Water Vapor Sorption of Product Packaging Using the ProUmid Sorption Test Systems

The shelf life of a packaged product, for example in the food sector, is often strongly influenced by the properties of the product packaging. An important factor here is the permeability of the product packaging toward water vapor. The ProUmid SPS and Vsorp sorption test systems in combination with special sample holders allow the transmission rate of water vapor through the packaging and the sorption rate of the packaged products to be determined experimentally.

Introduction

Dynamic water vapor absorption using automated sorption test instruments has proven to be the ideal method for investigating the uptake or loss of water of materials, for example in the form of powders, granules, flakes, extrudates or tablets.

Dynamic water vapor sorption analysis is often used to perform stability tests with new products at defined temperatures and relative humidity. Such long-term tests often take several weeks or months and provide valuable information about the influence of temperature and relative humidity on the shelf life of the products. For packaged products, the question also arises as to how long a product can be stored under certain climatic conditions before a critical moisture content is reached that significantly shortens the shelf life of the product or leads to the loss of product-specific properties.

ProUmid SPS Sorption Test System SPS

Due to their special design features, the multisample sorption test systems of the SPS and Vsorp series (Figure 1) are ideal for the determination of the water absorption of packaged products. The METTLER TOLEDO WXS series weighing cells mostly used in the instruments have a weighing range of up to 220 g and an accuracy in the μg range. This allows even the smallest changes in mass to be detected with comparatively large samples. The test chamber of the system is large and easily accessible from above and in addition allows several samples to be placed on a special sample tray for larger objects (Figure 2).

Figure 3 shows a sample tray loaded with different samples in the SPS. The rectangular sample holders can be adapted in size and number specifically to the particular requirements.

Conclusions

The SPS and Vsorp sorption test systems are ideal for investigations of the water vapor sorption of large samples and individual packagings. The water vapor transmission rate through the packaging material and the water absorption of the packaged products can be determined directly from the measured sorption curves. The possibility of analyzing both the finished product in its packaging and the pure product material itself expands the application field of the sorption instruments from research and product development to the design of packaging and thereby provides the user with additional application options.

_{Water Vapor Sorption of Product Packaging Using the ProUmid Sorption Test Systems | Thermal Analysis Application No. UC 455 | Application published in METTLER TOLEDO Thermal Analysis UserCom 45}