Film seal testing

The Hot Tack Tester is an advanced system for monitoring the seal performance of flexible and semi-rigid plastic films and laminates.

The tester can be used to determine the capability of a heat-seal join to hang together when it is stressed, at a specified time interval, while still hot from the sealing operation, but before it reaches ambient temperature.

By assessing the quality of seals' key parameters (sealing pressure, dwell time and temperature) optimum sealing conditions can be determined and therefore reflected on the production line. The 'hot tack' technology will aid in the research and development of flexible films used in the packaging industry. The Hot Tack Tester is beneficial in providing the user a means of determining key sealing parameters. It is quick and easy to use for quality control purposes with precise, repeatable tests. The tester allows testing and inspection of incoming material with the capabilities of storing and recording data graphically or numerically. Related to product development and quality control through the whole manufacturing chain of flexible packages the Hot Tack Tester helps in optimising the packaging process while also conforming to ASTM F 1921.

The simple operation of performing a test using the Hot Tack Tester allows the operator to enter the required parameters of a test. These include: test Nr, thickness, operator, temperature, laboratory temperature, dwell time, humidity, seal pressure, sample width, cooling time and separation rate. Once the test parameters have been selected by the operator, the sample strip can be loaded into the sample clamps before pressing 'start' at which stage the Hot Tack Tester automatically places the sample between the heated sealing jaws, closing the jaws for the preselected time in milliseconds, removing the sealed sample strip and, with no delay, begins the peeling process.

The Hot Tack Test prompt page will appear after a sample test has been completed. The operator must then enter the 'failure mode'. The standard points out that a number of different failure modes could occur in the course of the failure of the strip, the tester allows an operator to enter one of seven failure modes. If the operator is not satisfied, then the Repeat Cycle button can be touched, the test will not record any results and the cycle and sample number will remain the same.