Comparison of New Dynamic Accumulation Method for Measuring Oxygen Transmission Rate of Packaging against the Steady‐State Method Described by ASTM D3985

Abstract

A new dynamic accumulation method for measuring the oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of packages and packaging films using robust and inexpensive fluorescence oxygen sensing technology has been developed. The method allows for oxygen to transfer through a given area of packaging or sample film and accumulate over time. The test volume incorporates a fluorescence‐based oxygen sensor that does not consume oxygen and therefore does not interfere with the real‐time measurement of oxygen concentration. The new method was tested against a widely used, commercially available instrument (Mocon Oxtran 2/20; Mocon, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA) designed around the steady‐state gas permeation measurement approach described by ASTM D3985. Sample films were chosen to provide comparison over several orders of magnitude of OTR. Specifically, sample films with OTR values in the range of 101, 103 and 104 ml O2/m2/day were measured, and results using the two methods were compared. Results showed that the new dynamic accumulation method provides comparable results with the steady‐state method (ASTM D3985). Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Comparative Study of Chemical, Mechanical, Thermal, and Barrier Properties of Poly(Lactic Acid) Plasticized with Epoxidized Soybean Oil and Epoxidized Palm Oil

“…Nevertheless, PLA/EPO15 had a medium oxygen barrier with OTR that was still (270%) lower than that of neat PLA's. As for PLA that was plasticized with ESO, despite not achieving an entirely impermeable state, all PLA/ESO blends shifted the medium-low oxygen barrier of PLA sheet to medium range (11 to 1000 mL m -2 per day) (Abdellatief and Welt 2012). With at least twice the improvement, the oxygen barrier gradually increased as the ESO loading increased up to 15 wt.%.…”

Thermal Properties, Crystallinity, and Oxygen Permeability of Na-montmorillonite Reinforced Plasticized Poly(lactic acid) Film

“…Oxygen concentration in the DA chamber was measured and recorded periodically during the test using the commecially available oxygen fluorescence sensor (Model 310; Oxysense, Inc). OTR was subsequently calculated as described [16].…”

Modelling Gas Transmission in Cylindrical Dynamic Accumulation Oxygen Transmission Rate Chambers to Explore Implications of Oxygen Sensor Location Relative to Samples

“…This model can be used to generate accumulation chamber concentration gradients for a film of given permeability P, thickness l , on a chamber of given length, L, with oxygen diffusion coefficient, D, in air, which is similar to oxygen diffusion through nitrogen. The OTR may be calculated from oxygen concentrations predicted at the sensor location within the accumulation chamber via the method described by Welt and Abdellatief, 2012 . When oxygen concentration gradients within the accumulation chamber are insignificant, apparent OTR (OTR apparent ) should be the same as the actual OTR of the film sample used as an input to the model (OTR actual ), where …”

“…Prior to this development, dynamic accumulation approaches had been attempted by extracting gas samples from the accumulation chamber for analysis . Recently, performance of florescence‐based dynamic accumulation has been compared with the steady‐state method described by ASTM D3985, and it was found that dynamic accumulation provides similar results to the steady‐state method …”

“…When oxygen concentration gradients are not significant, sensor location, relative to the sample, is not important, and therefore, we can apply the simplifying assumption of a well‐mixed (well‐mixed is defined as no concentration gradients in the chamber) oxygen accumulation chamber in determining OTR. The mathematical model and method for calculating OTR using this simplifying assumption was shown by Abdellatief and Welt 2012 …”