Easy Opening Perforations

Packaging, for example for food and pharmaceuticals, has to fulfill a variety of requirements. Opening behavior is essential for the customers in terms of product acceptance. For packaging with perforations and related opening principles it is generally unknown which opening forces occur, how they can be practically determined and which forces can be applied by the consumers in general.

Within this IVLV-project an application for a research project will be prepared. The aim will be an IVLV- bulletin “Test procedure for determining of opening forces at perforations and related opening principles”. This requires the knowledge of the consumer’s hand’s movements while opening such packages, as well as the qualitative and quantitative factors influencing the opening behavior. To determine the maximum force that the consumers are able to apply in opening the package, it is necessary to develop a measurement device. With these results and the accomplishment of handling tests in representative target groups it will be possible to estimate whether a package is “easy to open” or not.

Content of the IVLV-project is a knowledge base of the current state of the art of in-house test methods, related test methods, available testing devices, existing patents and a classification of available packages with perforations and related opening principles. Further elements are the project scheduling as well as preparation and submission of project application to the “Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen (AiF)”.

Current information about science-topics around “Easy Opening” and their results are provided on the homepage www.easy-opening.com by the Fraunhofer AVV.