Packing materials vary from a simple bubble-wrap to protect the vase you are sending your Aunt Jenny for her birthday, to industrial strength materials able to withstand being dropped from a crane while unloading them. Testing packing materials to determine how well they stand-up before they leave the factory or local post-office helps reduce the chances of the articles getting damaged on the way and the industry having to pay for expensive returns and replacements. The standard tests for packing materials include the drop, compression, horizontal impact water spray, material bending, vibration and joint or glue tests.
Instructions
l Determine what you want to test the material to withstand. This may include surviving vibrations or ability to withstand the impact of being dropped when being unloaded from a ship. A home test could be wrapping the vase and dropping the package to make sure it does not break.
l Find out what means of transport is going to be used because this will help you determine the “highest normal” strains that the packing material will be subjected to. Sea transport, for instance, may require waterproof packing materials that are able to withstand rolling and pitching, whereas sending things by semi-truck may require packing materials that can be stacked on top of each other and subjected to jarring.
l Decide if one test is enough or if a series of experiments over time would give you a more accurate indication of how well the packing material performs. Record your test outcome so you can compare initial and future test results.
l Calculate if testing packing materials warrants purchasing your own equipment or if it is more economical to hire a materials testing business to do it for you. Another way you can test the packing materials is to actually send them out and see how many are damaged, which is what is likely to be the packing materials test with Aunt Jenny’s present.
