Abstract:

Advancements in barrier quality of certain materials have pushed the sensitivity limits of commercially available water vapour permeation measurement equipment. In order for products such as pharmaceutical packaging which incorporate these high barrier materials, to be viable, current permeation testing methods must be enhanced or altered. In designing a more sensitive method, the limitations of the current methods were first studied. From there, enhancements and modifications to the traditional comparative or concentration sensor produced an order of magnitude increase in sensitivity (from 5×10-3 to 5×10-4 g/(m²xday)). Permeation results illustrating the new system will be presented as the highlight of the paper. Limitations found in the current methods, alterations made to a traditional system and insight into future developments that will increase the sensitivity even further will also be included.