Fracture and Delamination in Packaging Materials : A Study of Experimental Methods and Simulation Techniques

Abstract: Packages are the means of preservation, distribution and convenience of use for food, medicine and other consumer products. The introduction of a new package-opening technique for a better opening experience requires additional prototype development and physical testing. In order for the design process to be more rapid and robust, finite element (FE) simulations are widely used in packaging industries to compliment and reduce the amount of physical testing.The goal of this work is to develop some building blocks for complete package-opening FE-simulation. To begin with, the study focuses on mechanical testing of packaging materials’ fracture and delamination; especially shear fracture. Use of tools like digital image correlation (DIC) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) greatly aided to the strain measuring technique and observation of fractured and delaminated surfaces respectively.A modified shear test specimen for polymer sheet testing was developed and its geometry was optimized by FE-simulation. A geometry correction factor of shear fracture toughness for the proposed specimen was derived based on linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM). It was found that the specimen ligament length should vary between twice the thickness and half the ligament width of the modified shear specimen to measure the essential work of fracture.Thin-flexible laminate of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and aluminium (Al) is another key packaging material addressed in this study. The continuum and fracture testing of individual layers provided the base information and input for FE-modelling. The FE-simulation material parameters were calibrated from the physical test response through inverse analysis. Identification process of the laminate interface fracture energy (Gc) from peel tests was studied experimentally and theoretically. A successful FE-simulation optimization framework using artificial neural network and genetic algorithm was developed for the calibration of Gc. To address the challenge in quantifying shear Gc of laminate with very thin substrates, a convenient test technique was proposed. In a separate case, the tearing response of LDPE/PET (polyethylene terephthalate) laminate was studied to examine crack propagation, crack path deviation and delamination of the laminate in mode III fracture. Several tear EWF evaluation theories were proposed along with a cyclic tear test method.