Dry storage sealing film

A film-encapsulating bag containing a desiccant has extended its shelf life for several years due to its excellent barrier properties, winning several awards for Pechiney Plastic Packaging.

The disposable bag was manufactured for Johnson & Johnson`s Lifescan and used to package the company's proprietary product, the Harmony disposable diagnostic test strip. Harmony test strips are designed for patients or medical professionals to check blood clotting. The reinforced moisture-proof layer of the bag is soft and tearable.

This innovative packaging adds a desiccant to the PET sealing film and laminated foil material and absorbs moisture in the packaging space so that the contents do not get wet due to breakage or pores.

The development of this product took about a year: the laminated insulation material was only 4.25 mils thick and contained a 2.5 mil thick dry storage sealing film. Material structure from the outside to the inside: 48-ga transfer PET / white low density polyethylene / ethylene acrylic (EAA) / coextruded laminated film / foil / low density polyethylene / ethylene acrylic (EAA) coextruded layer Pressure film/Pechiney company is applying for a patented dry storage sealing film.

The bag has strong barrier properties and is disposable. The desiccant is incorporated into the polyethylene sealing film in a specific manner so that the moisture resistance of the package far exceeds that of conventional laminated foil materials. Replace the previous high-density polyethylene bottle with a Pechiney bag to individually package the test strips to provide product protection and greatly reduce costs.

Lifescan's diagnostic test strips require a long shelf life, and the company hopes to find a new flexible packaging product with an enhanced moisture barrier that does not exceed the company's budget. Prior to this, Lifescan packaged diagnostic test strips in high-density polyethylene bottles with a built-in molecular sieve desiccant. The bottle contains five diagnostic test strips, which are sold to patients or medical professionals to check the blood for prothrombin. Diagnostic test strips are very sensitive to exposure to moisture and must be quickly resealed after removing a diagnostic test strip. Although this kind of packaging is more expensive, it is still an effective packaging solution. However, the user may still inadvertently forget to seal the bottle cap, resulting in damage to the test strip.

High-barrier tearable soft-sealed bags bring a one-time packaging concept that was once considered a very attractive solution. However, according to the calculation of the steam transmission rate, traditional laminated materials do not guarantee the company's expected shelf life of several years. Need to find a cost-effective strong barrier soft bag to greatly enhance product protection. In order to do this, the desiccant can be incorporated into the polyethylene sealing film in a specific way so that the moisture barrier performance far exceeds that of traditional laminated foils. In the end, the company found that using the Pechiney envelope to package the test strips individually provided the necessary product protection, and the cost was significantly lower compared to the bottles.

Pechiney's dry storage laminates are manufactured using Doyen Medipharm's 4SS standard four-edge sealed bagging equipment. In the accelerated stability test with dry storage sealants, dry storage heat sealable films exhibited strong barrier properties and extended shelf life. The free-standing packaging eliminates the possibility of contamination or moisture that may exist in the current bottle method, and the slit tearing allows the bag to be easily opened. The bags are printed through a flexo line screen and the fonts are fine.

The storage and manufacture of dry storage moisture-absorbing polyethylene sealing film is very complex. The film is very sensitive to the environmental humidity, and the lamination process is also very complicated. Therefore, the technical content of this product is very high.

This heat-sealable film is being patented and has received FDA approval for direct food contact, significantly extending the shelf life of wet, highly sensitive products. This form of packaging may well surpass the packaging of medical supplies and devices and enter the food and electronic packaging field because product packaging in these areas also has a strong demand for moisture resistance, which can save the market value of moisture-proof packaging of desiccant pouches.