New Method is Used to Measure Water Vapor Permeability of Medicine Packages


In order to strengthen quality control of medicine package material, the State Food and Drug Administration has issued a series of new standards relating to medicine package material that can help package manufacturers produce products in accordance with medicine package requirement and can facilitate medicine enterprises to use the products. Electrolytic analysis method appears in some new standards as the testing method for water vapor permeability testing of film and sheet. Before that, weighting method is used as the only method for water vapor permeability testing of film and sheet in domestic standards.



ISO 15106-3 is the widely used standard that is compiled rather comprehensively about electrolytic method for water vapor permeability testing. In the standard, testing principle of electrolytic method is explained as follows: The gas transmission cell is designed in such a way that, with the test specimen inserted, it is divided into a dry chamber and a controlled-humidity chamber. The dry side of the specimen is swept by a flow of dry carrier gas, and water vapor permeating through the specimen from the controlled-humidity chamber is carried by the carrier gas into an electrolytic cell. This cell contains two spiral wire electrodes, coated with a thin layer of phosphorous pentoxide, mounted on the inside wall of a glass capillary. The carrier gas is passed through the capillary where the moisture it holds is quantitatively absorbed by the phosphorous pentoxide and decomposed electrolytically into hydrogen and oxygen by the application of a D.C. voltage of about 70V to the electrodes. The mass of the moisture which permeates through the specimen and is decomposed per unit time is calculated from the electrolytic current required.



As the first manufacturer setting foot in package permeability testing field, Labthink has begun to develop corresponding water vapor permeability tester of electrolytic method - TSY-W3 Electrolytic Water Vapor Permeability Tester. At present, this instrument is in the final commissioning period and will enter the market in the second half of the year. We are confident that relying on its excellent property, TSY-W3 Electrolytic Water Vapor Permeability Tester will provide superior service to the customers.



Labthink International, Inc.

200 River’s Edge Drive, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, U.S.A.

Phone: +1-617-830-2190

FAX: +1-781-219-3638



Labthink Instruments Co., Ltd.

144 Wuyingshan Road, Jinan, P.R.China

Phone: +86-531-85068566

FAX: +86-531-85812140

Email: trade.en@labthink.cn


All Topics