Cosmetics packaging inspection

Abstract: plastic cosmetic tube is gradually used to replace the traditional glass bottle packaging in cosmetics packaging. However, some properties of plastic makeup tube from cosmetic tube supplier are not as good as glass packaging. How to ensure the packaging quality of cosmetics? This paper from cosmetic pacakging manufacturer introduces the factors affecting the preservation of cosmetics and the sales of cosmetics packaging, and gives the corresponding detection suggestions.

Key words: cosmetics, barrier, headspace, sealing, self-adhesive

1. Factors affecting the preservation of cosmetics and related tests

There is no doubt that the primary function of cosmetic packaging is to protect the contents. The ingredients of cosmetics are added with substances needed for microbial growth and reproduction, such as glycerin, protein and so on. When cosmetics are polluted by microorganisms, they will stink, deteriorate and mildew, and the quality of products will decline. Water and oxygen are the factors that affect the growth of microorganisms. Most cosmetics contain oil components. The unsaturated bond in oil is easy to oxidize and cause deterioration (rancidity), and this oxidation is a chain reaction. As long as a small part of the oil begins to oxidize, it will cause complete deterioration of the oil. At the same time, it will produce peroxide, acid, aldehyde and other substances that are irritating to the skin, and give off rancidity odor. Oxygen is the main external cause of rancidity. Without oxygen, there will be no oxidation and rancidity. The increase of moisture will also cause the hydrolysis of oil and accelerate the automatic oxidation reaction. Moreover, moisture will provide living environment for microorganisms and reduce the activity of some antioxidants. The preservation of aromatic gas is the focus of cosmetic packaging. For some cosmetics, the aromatic gas itself is the real product;, If the aromatic gas is lost, the product that is really on sale will disappear. Therefore, for cosmetics, it is of great significance to prevent odor loss.

It can be seen that anti-corrosion, anti-oxidation and odor loss prevention are the key points of cosmetics preservation. The following tests should be carried out on cosmetics packaging: the speed of gas penetration into packaging materials, the gas content inside the packaging, and whether the packaging is intact, that is, the barrier of packaging materials, the headspace gas analysis inside the packaging and the sealing of the packaging.

1.1 barrier

Barrier property refers to the barrier effect of cosmic tube packaging materials on the penetration of gas, liquid and other penetrants through the materials. Its advantages and disadvantages can directly affect the quality of products within the shelf life, and it is also an important index to evaluate the shelf life of products. Barrier performance of packaging is one of the important test items of cosmetic tube packaging, including oxygen permeability, moisture permeability and organic gas permeability.

The oxygen permeability test is mainly used to measure the oxygen permeability of film, composite film, cosmetic packaging bag, or bottle packaging. At present, the two methods of oxygen permeability detection, differential pressure method and constant pressure method, can detect the oxygen permeability of film and the overall oxygen permeability of packaging, but the detection advantages are different. The pressure difference method has no requirements for testing gas, and can be used to detect the transmittance of any gas, but it is still in its infancy in the detection of packaging containers; Isobaric membrane detection technology and container detection technology have been quite mature, such as the oxygen permeability test system of cosmic tube supplier, but there are limitations in gas detection.

The moisture permeability test is mainly used to measure the water vapor permeability of cosmetic tube packaging film materials and bottles, bags, cans and other packaging materials. Through the measurement of water vapor permeability, control and adjust the production technical indicators of packaging materials to meet the different needs of product application. At present, both the weighing method and the sensor method can be used to detect the moisture permeability of films and packages. However, considering the test efficiency, the application of the sensor method in the detection of packages will develop more rapidly.

Fragrance retention performance, that is, the organic gas permeability of materials, is very important for cosmetics packaging, because once the fragrance of cosmetics is lost or changed, it will directly affect the sales of products. At present, the research on aroma retention of materials is still in the development stage in the world. The permetm or2 / 410 organic gas permeability test system developed by cosmic tube manufacturers can form a certain organic gas concentration difference on both sides of the sample under the specified temperature conditions, and calculate the organic gas permeability according to the amount of organic gas permeability.

1.2 sealing of cosmic tube packaging

The hermeticity of cosmic packaging mainly refers to whether there is dew point in the packaging. The leakage is that the gas leaks out or enters the packaging through the cracks, micropores or tiny gaps between two materials. The leakage probability is high at the heat sealing part of the packaging tube and the bottle mouth of the cosmic container. In order to solve this problem, we need to strictly control the production process and timely adjust the process according to the detection data. There are two common detection methods: positive pressure method and negative pressure method. Among them, the application of positive pressure method should be paid special attention, because the detection method can not only detect the sealing performance of common packages, but also expand the detection objects by attachments, for example, Labthink PARAMTM LSSD-01 leak and seal strength tester can detect the sealing properties of cosmetic tube, spray nozzle, bottle cap, open package and so on by adding test accessories.

1.3 headspace gas analysis

A small amount of air will remain in the cosmetic package when the cosmetic is filled. However, it is difficult to control and change the gas composition in the package by other technical means from the end of filling to the time when the product is opened for use. The use of barrier packaging materials can only hinder the gas permeation into / out of the packaging materials, It can not eliminate the existing oxygen and other gases inside the package (excluding the case of adding Deoxidization Technology in the package). If the content of residual gas exceeds the maximum concentration requirement for product preservation, no matter how good high barrier material and perfect sealing packaging form are used, the shelf life requirement of the product can not be met. Therefore, we need to detect the residual gas components in cosmetic packaging, and adjust the packaging process accordingly.

The residual gas in packaging can be detected by Labthink paramtm hga-01 headspace gas analyzer, which can be used to determine the content and mixing ratio of oxygen and carbon dioxide in sealed packaging bags, bottles, cans, etc. it is suitable for rapid and accurate evaluation of the content and proportion of gas components in packaging in production lines, warehouses, laboratories and other places, So as to guide the production and ensure the product shelf life to be realized.

2. Influencing factors of cosmetic packaging sales and appearance inspection

As for cosmetics, the aesthetic degree of packaging appearance can directly affect consumers' recognition of brand and product quality. It is generally believed that first-class cosmetics should be equipped with first-class packaging commensurate with it. Therefore, cosmetics brands invest a lot in their product packaging, In addition to ensuring the quality of products, we should pay special attention to the beauty of appearance and the convenience of use. From the consumer's point of view, the external printing, opening, surface touch, printing effect and appearance design of packaging materials have become the important factors to choose products. However, in addition to the appearance design, these factors are closely related to the performance testing of packaging materials.

2.1 printing quality

In order to have a good visual aesthetic feeling, cosmetics are printed exquisitely, so it is important to detect the printing quality. At present, the routine test items of cosmetic tube packaging printing quality are the abrasion resistance (scratch resistance), ink adhesion fastness and color discrimination. Among them, there are clear detection methods for ink adhesion fastness detection and color discrimination, but attention should be paid to the abrasion resistance detection. At present, China's standard detection method requires the load block to adopt linear motion, but the international standard requires the load block to adopt curve motion. The detection party should determine the detection method based on the export detection.

2.2 self adhesive label detection the self-adhesive label is widely used in the cosmetics tube and bottle packaging. The detection items are mainly for the bonding performance test of the self-adhesive label (self-adhesive or pressure-sensitive adhesive). The main detection items include initial adhesion performance, adhesion performance and peel strength (peel force).

The initial adhesion of the adhesive tape to the steel ball is tested by the inclined rolling ball method when the adhesive surface between the steel ball and the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape is in short contact with a small pressure. The maximum steel ball number that can be adhered is used to characterize the initial adhesion performance of the self-adhesive. The test plate with adhesive tape sample should be vertically suspended on the test stand, and the weight of the specified weight should be suspended at the lower end. The adhesive displacement of the sample after a certain period of time or the time when the sample is completely separated should be used to characterize the adhesive performance of the self-adhesive label. Peel strength is an important index to measure the adhesive performance of self-adhesive label. Usually, the index can be detected by electronic tensile testing machine or electronic peel testing machine.

2.3 ease of opening

Cosmetic bottle packaging is a popular packaging form in the field of cosmetic packaging. The locking and opening torque value of the bottle cap is one of the key process parameters controlled by the production unit offline or online. Whether the torque value is suitable or not has a great influence on the intermediate transportation and final consumption of the product. The opening and locking force of the bottle cap can be detected by the torque meter, and the opening and locking force of the bottle cap should also be associated with the tightness of the packaging.

Cosmetic packaging is also widely used in the field of cosmetics, especially in small capacity cosmetic packaging. Its easy opening mainly depends on the tearing property, heat sealing property and friction coefficient of makeup packaging materials. It should be noted that the clamping force provided to the material during the tear test is large enough, so that there will be no material damage during the test; Slip & quot; However, when consumers actually open the packaging bag, if the friction of the material surface does not match well with the tearing force of the material, it is also common that the opening slip occurs when the grip strength is not large enough, which leads to difficulty in opening. In the design of packaging materials, it is necessary to comprehensively consider these two indicators of packaging materials, and carry out simulation tests under various grip conditions.

3. Summary

To sum up, according to the preservation requirements of cosmetic packaging, its performance testing can be divided into two parts: content preservation and product appearance. Of course, the basic mechanical indexes of packaging materials must be met. Among them, antisepsis, anti-oxidation and preventing odor loss are the key points of cosmetics preservation, involving the barrier of materials, headspace gas analysis and sealing test; The aesthetic degree of packaging appearance can directly affect the sales of products. The main influencing factors are the printing and opening of the external packaging, the surface touch of packaging materials, the printing effect, and the adhesion performance test of cosmetic self-adhesive labels. By understanding these performance indicators of packaging materials and packaging materials, we can avoid some mistakes in the design of cosmetic packaging, and enhance the usability, protection and aesthetics of packaging design.