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Champagne cork gripping must securely pull and turn the closure

Champagne cork pull and twist

Industry: Drinks

Cork extraction strength is mostly used in the development of uncorking solutions for Champagne and sparkling wines.

 A test sytstem to accurately simulate cork extraction must pull and twist the closure

Drinks

ROPP capping test

First peak and second peak values show initial breakaway and bridge torque

Brothers Drinks manufactures and co-packs a wide range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages with both Roll on Pilfer Proof (ROPP) and crown bottle caps. This family company produces a variety of innovative flavours, and maintaining the freshness of the drinks is essential to their enviable reputation for quality.

TE bridge push-out

Push-off testing TE plastic beverage bottle closures measures the bridge strength

Alcoa CSI (now Closure Systems International) required a system to quickly test the pull-off force of the tamper-proof rings on soft drink and mineral water closures.

The system had to be easy to operate and allow the TE caps to be loaded quickly.

Whisky stopper pull and twist

A unique computer controlled test system is required to pull and twist to extract a cork

To improve the quality and storage of their premium $1000 product, the R&D team at a leading Scottish whisky maker needed to optimise the design of their bottle stoppers. They decided that the strength and performance of their reusable stoppers could be ensured by systematic testing of the characteristics of both portions of the stoppers.

Champagne cork pull and twist

A test sytstem to accurately simulate cork extraction must pull and twist the closure

Cork extraction strength is mostly used in the development of uncorking solutions for Champagne and sparkling wines. It is critical to measure the extraction force of corks in order to maintain a balance between easy opening of bottles by consumers, whilst avoiding exploding corks.

TE ring failure strength test

A motorised test stand can measure the TE breakage strength

The customer manufactures closures for the beverage industry. These include tamper-evident caps used on mineral waters and other soft drinks. The company wished to perform a compression test on the tamper evident ring, which could measure the maximum force used to ‘push it off‘ the cap.

Wine cork pull-out test

Securing the glass bottle and pulling the cork with appropiate gripping is required to measure extraction force

The customer, AMORIM & IRMÃOS, S.A – Unidade Industrial da Valada, required an economic and easy-to-use system to test the extraction force of corks from glass wine bottles.

Closure tester validation

digital torque teter accuracy depends upon regular calibration checks

The customer had a number of Tornado closure torque testers, and wished to carry out regular validation checks without the need to return the units to either Mecmesin or an approved laboratory.

PET bottle cap torque test

Application torque is checked by removal torque measurement with short dwell times

For over a century Água de Luso has been one of Portugal's most famous names in mineral water. Água de Luso's mineral water is packaged in a variety of sizes of plastic (PET) bottles and it is essential that the caps on their bottles are easy to open, while at the same time applied tightly enough to ensure the bottles do not leak.

Cork extraction torque test

Uniform circumferential gripping of the cork sample increases torque measurement accuracy

Sibel manufacture corks for the wine and spirits industry in the Champagne region of France. They pride themselves on working closely with their clients, taking into account their requirements and expectations for safety. A factor concerning Champagne and sparkling wine, in particular, is the risk of injury from a 'popped' cork when opening a bottle. Even when handled properly, pressure within the neck of the bottle means a cork could be released at approximately 100km/h.

Stelvin ROPP Wine Closure Removal Torque

An adjustable Stelvin® cap mandrel ensures optimum accuracy in torque measurement

The packaging of wine has great influence on the quality of the product delivered to the customer. Traditionally the method of closure has been the natural, or latterly synthetic, cork stopper. This solution, despite attaining high standards of sealing and taste preservation, can present problems for the end user attempting to remove the cork. As a result, the industry has developed alternative screw-cap designs aimed at achieving more consistent and reliable performance.

ISBT sports closure rotational test

Close-up of the bite mechanism engaged with push-pull spout in the fully open position

The rotational force needed to remove the closure spout from a sports cap body is measured using the Steinfurth Rotation Tester for Sport Closures mounted on a Mecmesin tensile tester. This ISBT test simulates a person biting or pulling on the spout when attached to a PET preform and requires specific tensile test equipment to meet the standard.

ISBT sports closure bite and tension tests

Custom fixtures are required to meet ISBT tension test standards

The pull force needed to separate the tear-off membrane base from the spout of the sports closure is measured using a custom fixture. This ISBT test measures the tensile strength of the assembled product.

Cosmetics and Personal Care

Nail varnish capping check

Removal torque is an indicator of capping torque specification

Barry M Cosmetics Ltd. are the leading British colour cosmetics brand, offering a comprehensive range of products for face, eyes, lips and nails. Their heritage began in 1982, by recognising the gap in the market for fashionable, on trend, vibrant colour choices in the cosmetics industry. The company’s reputation centres not only on drama and high quality, but also a strict policy to be cruelty-free in the testing of finished products and ingredients, in-house or within their supply chain.

TE cosmetics closure breakaway torque test

Unscrewing the closure by hand is an easy and quick torque value test

A manufacturer of a wide range of skin, hair-care, make-up and sun-care products based in Greece needed to replace their outdated torque testers with up-to-date digital torque testers to guarantee production quality and to ensure their products remained sealed.

Flip-cap opening force test

Pull-up force testing of a flip-top dispensing cap requires a sutable upper fixture

A repeatable test system to check the opening force of flip cap lids, accommodating 3 different diameter caps with minimal fixture changeover. Prevention of accidental loadcell damage was also a pre-requisite as this had been a problem previously at Betts Ltd. (now part of Albea).

Cosmetics closure testing

MultiTest-dv with appropriate fixtures can test closure removal forces

A bench-top testing system was required to repeatably test the pull-off force on a variety of cosmetic containers. The system needed to allow a relatively high volume of containers to be tested with the minimum level of training required for users.
The customer also required a torque tester to determine the torque necessary to operate the lipstick barrel.

Medical and Pharmaceutical

Plastic phial cap pull-off

The force to pull off a plastic pharmaceutical phial cap can be measured by a motorised tester

The customer approached Mecmesin with a specification to pull-off the cap of a pharmaceutical phial. The test equipment needed to be simple to use and able to perform repeatable tests.

Seed container closure application

Plastic caps with a liner can be quickly tested for application torque with a manual digital tester

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew have undertaken an international conservation initiative to preserve seed specimens of over 24,000 plant species, protecting them from extinction at the Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst Place, West Sussex. Scientists at the Millennium Seed Bank required a simple, yet consistently accurate method of achieving a hermetic seal on the seed bottle caps.

Application torque check for pump dispenser

Manual digital torque test instruments quickly measure closure removal effort

Pfeiffer, based in Germany, (and now part of AptarGroup) are a leading manufacturer of atomisers and dosing systems for the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. The company required a torque test unit to measure the application and release torque of their pump products.

Household and Industrial

Industrial dispensing cap removal

A force test stand and gauge combination can measure the removal force of an industrial cap

A system was required to measure the push-on force and removal force of an injection-moulded cap from a new design of oil can. The innovative design of the cap was opened by applying a downward pressure to the back, so flipping up the front portion allowing the oil to be poured. Both the push-on and pull-off tests needed to be completed without removing the oil can from the fixture.

Drinks, Food and Dairy

Torque tester for dedicated TE caps

Quick change capability allows rapd testing of each cap design

Elopak required equipment for the manual testing of tamper-proof seals on bottle caps, but without the bottle being present. The unit had to accommodate a range of different size caps.