Packaging is one of the best ways to retain the quality of your products. It helps in representing your brand beautifully in front of customers. This is the reason that the packaging industry has evolved much over time. It has become one of the emerging businesses with enormous growth potential. Custom boxes play a significant role in enhancing your brand image. They provide ultimate protection to the products by designing a perfect-sized package.

High-quality machinery is available to test the quality of your product's packaging. Brands also rely on testing and processes. The results are available in videos, images, and graphical representations. Testing allows the company to analyze the properties and features of their cardboard box packaging. It helps in estimating the quality at different levels of production. Moreover, it also highlights the effect of external forces which may affect it. Below are some of the ways to test the quality of your product packaging:

Material Tests - product packaging

The material test is here to check the resistance of packaging material. By bursting the strength of paper, you can perform this test. It is a tough test, but the result can effectively determine the strength parameters. Burst pressure is equal to a resistance by which a paper sample opposes the pressure until it bursts. The pressure must be there unilaterally and consistently.

To find a realistic value, you need to repeat the test ten times; five from the top side and the remaining five from the wire side of the sample. According to international standards, the material test can be conducted on all types of cardboard. A material test can ensure durability if you make cosmetic box packaging, display box packaging, or any other. Even the brands have started using this test for food box packaging to ensure the product's safe delivery. This test also helps in giving an exceptional packaging. Clients are demanding when they buy these boxes. A tested packaging helps in giving them the satisfaction that they are buying the right product.

Packaging Tests:

Edge crush test and drop test are two common examples of packaging tests. You can use these tests for a vast range of custom packaging designed for various products. The details about these tests are given below.

• Edge Crush Test (ECT):

The stacking and shipping of boxes are standard in factories and warehouses. Sometime a factory may have limited storage space. Stacking the custom boxes with logos improperly can damage them. It is a test to measure the resistance level of your packaging, especially from the edges.

It gives you information on the toughness of cardboard compared to the machine's direction. The ECT value is a meaningful test worldwide, especially for cardboard box packaging. It also measures the compressive force your packaging can resist in a vertical or horizontal direction before its collapse. The result is given in kilonewton per meter. Using this test helps in the safe shipping of your products. You will no longer be stressed about the integrity of the products.

• Drop Test:

In this test, the package freefalls on its edges, surface, and corners. It is similar to a shock test often conducted during the pre-shipping inspection. The test is easy to conduct and reveals an issue with packaging. The custom boxes are present with the product you are using them for. The next step is to drop the packaging from a pre-defined height with the help of a machine. This also enables the makers to estimate similar conditions during shipment and transportation. Several times of repetition are essential from different angles to find an accurate value. Your clients will love to receive fragile items in intact form. Thanks to this test, that will give you the perfect readings.

Storage and Transport Simulations – product packaging

These tests simulate transportation through good heavy vehicles like rail, ship, aircraft, or traditional handling. Some of the tests under this category also include vibration and compression tests.

• Vibration Test:

It provides information on the transportation stress on the product and its packaging. Although modern vehicles drive smoothly, transportation through different vehicles can produce sudden vibrations. This may affect the shipping packaging, internal packaging, closures, or the main product during shipment; additional bumping can affect the quality of your packaging. The vibration test analyzes the performance of custom packaging boxes. It also considers the protection provided by the closures and interior packaging.

• Box Compression Test (BCT):

It measures the force in kilonewtons that a package can bear before compression. The test gives a reasonable estimate of how much load the packaging can bear. It usually takes place in the laboratory by a compression testing machine. The test helps estimate whether the package is stacked or compressed in little space with other packaging items. In the edge crush test, the next step is to introduce the force on the edges, whereas, in the box compression test, force is applied diagonally opposite to the edges. Finally, the box is compressed between two parallel rollers to reveal bulging or distortion in shape.

Climate Conditioning for Various Environments:

The climate of your product destination may differ from its manufacturing place. The regions with tropical climates have a higher level of humidity. Some may have dry climatic conditions. Your packaging material can deteriorate under different climates. The only way to access this is to conduct a climate conditioning test on your product packaging. The material is also in a chamber for about 72 hours to reveal the change in the physical properties of the packaging material. A calibrated environmental chamber also is available for different temperatures and humidity levels. Experts recommend these tests for even eco-friendly packaging to obtain reliable quality and results.