ASTM E171/E171M-11

NOTICE: This standard has either been superseded and replaced by a new version or withdrawn.
Contact ASTM International (www.astm.org) for the latest information
Designation: E171/E171M − 11
StandardPractice for
1
Conditioning and Testing Flexible Barrier Packaging
This standard is issued under the fixed designation E171/E171M; the number immediately following the designation indicates the year
of original adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of last revision. A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval.
A superscript epsilon (´) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.
1. Scope 3.2 Terms and definitions used in this practice may be found
in Terminology F17.
1.1 This specification defines the standard temperature and
humidity for conditioning and testing of flexible barrier pack-
4. Significance and Use
aging and flexible barrier packaging materials at nominally
ambient conditions.
4.1 Conditioning is used to minimize the variation in test
1.2 There are many other temperature and humidity condi- results that may result from fluctuations in temperature and
humidity, or both. Many flexible packaging materials or
tions that may be appropriately used to test end use conditions
(such as freezer, refrigerated, or abusive storage). These need components of flexible packaging materials, particularly ma-
to be individually established and are not in the scope of this terials that are hygroscopic, undergo changes in physical
practice. properties as the temperature and the relative humidity (RH) to
which they are exposed are varied.
1.3 Only those materials that fall under the general area of
flexible barrier packaging materials are included in this prac-
4.2 Many packaging materials do not exhibit a meaningful
tice.
change in physical properties across the temperature and
humidity range that is generally found in office and general
1.4 The values stated in either SI units or inch-pound units
laboratorysettings.Asaresult,conditioningofsamplesisoften
are to be regarded separately as standard. The values stated in
not required in order to achieve useful test results and is often
each system may not be exact equivalents; therefore, each
bypassed during routine testing.
system shall be used independently of the other. Combining
values from the two systems may result in non-conformance
4.3 Conditioning should be considered when (a) comparing
with the standard.
betweenoramonglaboratoryresults(forexample,supplierand
customer), (b) temperature or humidity is anticipated to have
2. Referenced Documents
an effect on the test outcomes, or (c) potential sources of
2
2.1 ASTM Standards:
variation in test results must be minimized.
D4332 Practice for Conditioning Containers, Packages, or
Packaging Components for Testing 4.4 Temperature and humidity alone are not sufficient to
F17 Terminology Relating to Flexible Barrier Packaging completely define a storage condition. Many other factors may
F2825 Practice for Climatic Stressing of Packaging Systems be relevant (such as time, light, and atmospheric pressure) that
for Single Parcel Delivery are not defined in this specification.
3. Terminology
5. Atmospheric Conditions
3.1 co
...