At ADMET, we have over 25 years of experience helping companies in a diverse set of industries solve their materials testing problems.
Our Engineering and Sales teams worked together to provide a customized testing solution for an American manufacturer and supplier of jam, peanut butter, jelly, fruit syrups, beverages, and more. The Company reached out to ADMET looking for a testing system that would enable them to quantify the shear strength of the adhesive bond between food packaging labels and jars they’re placed on.
Challenge
The Quality group was experiencing instances where the food labels were coming off of the jars sometime in between when they left the manufacturing facility and when they got put on the shelf in the designated supermarket.
To prevent these instances from occurring, quality engineers determined that a threshold for minimum adhesive shear strength of the adhesive bond between the packaging label and the jar needed to be established and validated. For this type of mechanical testing, automation was key for the Company.
Shear Strength: The shear stress carried by a material at failure under a pure shear condition or the maximum load a material can withstand in a direction parallel to the face of the material, as opposed to perpendicular to its surface.
Testing Application
The goal of testing was to verify the quality and consistency within the adhesive bonds between the jars and their labels. Specimens, in this case, included various sized labels and jars as testing would be performed on labelled jars coming off the assembly line. The test report was to include information on the adhesive shear strength data.
The Company expressed interest in a testing system that would automate the process of performing adhesive shear strength testing on their various sized labels and jars.
Our Solution
ADMET worked to develop a customized testing solution that would enable the Company to accomplish their testing objectives. The testing system featured a horizontally-oriented eXpert 5601 with force capacities up to 1kN (225lbf). A safety enclosure with hinged door and safety interlocks was supplied to protect the operator from materials displaced during testing.
Custom eXpert 5601 for Food Packaging Adhesive Shear Strength Testing
The system featured a jar clamping fixture with the following components:
(1) an elevated platform to bring each jar to working height,
(2) a height-adjustable clamping mechanism to affix jars in place and prevent movement,
(3) cylindrical inserts to align jars of varying heights at the center line for proper grip alignment.
The opposing end of the machine responsible for actuation featured a manual vise grip with 100 mm wide rubber inserts, so as to be capable of grabbing their largest and smallest width labels.
Food Packaging Custom Designed Test Fixture
ADMET offers a variety of closed loop controllers that enable users to develop personalized test procedures while automating their testing. The custom eXpert 5601 system was offered with the eP2 controller and GaugeSafe software to automate and streamline the process of performing testing and obtaining data.
For each test, an operator would fasten the jar within the clamping assembly and the label within the vise grip and press play on the eP2 controller keypad. The machine will then start the adhesive shear strength test in accordance with the protocol developed.
The system automatically acquires the desired data as specified within the protocol and outputs it into a user-configurable test report on GaugeSafe software.
Designed to Order Engineered Solutions
We understand that not all testing can be conducted using standard solutions. Our team will work with you to ensure that the recommended system meets your exact requirements and will be reliable and easy to use. For more information and examples of engineered-to-order solutions, click below.
ADMET’s engineering group is structured to handle unique and demanding projects without breaking your budget. Click here to fill out our Sales Inquiry form, provide us more information on your testing application and a Sales Engineer will be in touch.
