Today’s PET bottle manufacturing operations are very concerned about loose bottle caps which affect the product’s freshness, stability, shelf life and leakage. Moisture sensitive or pressurized products especially requires testing their closure integrity. Hence, testing the bottle caps using a proficient torque tester is a must.
Why do we need to test the bottle caps?
Loose bottle caps can lead to both package and product issues. This can happen due to the loss of nitrogen in non?carbonated drinks or carbon dioxide in sodas or entry of moisture molecules into a dry product. This can result in discoloration, significant changes in taste or texture, and thereby, affect the quality of the overall product. In order to maintain the quality, it is very important to maintain the caps’ integrity constantly.
In earlier practice, cap torque testing was as easy as taking a bottle from the production line and manually twisting the cap to check how tight it is. But in today’s industries, the need to acquire accurate torque test results is rising rapidly. While various types of manual torque testers are present in the market, the use of motorized cap torque testers is becoming the industry standard.
The target of this testing equipment is to eliminate the human-induced errors by providing a consistent, accurate and repeatable testing speed that avoid additional pressure or unnecessary acceleration on a product during the testing procedure. Thus, the results produced can be evaluated by the quality team in order to validate and confirm that caps will be able to prevent leakage during transit and storage conditions.
The test is conducted in two steps:
- Removal of cap – In this, the test is conducted in the opening direction up to the limit the cap begins to slip on the bottle neck. Upon detection of rotational movement by the device, a peak removal torque will be computed and the system will stop rotating.
- Application – The closure is then re-applied to the bottle after the removal torque is calculated.
Utilizing a motorized cap testing machine removes the human errors during cap testing. It generates precise testing data that can be evaluated by the production team. It allows saving money by lowering the amount of wasted packaging and product over the course of large-scale production.
