Container and package testing is a critical component of quality programs for manufacturers, distributors and freight companies. Our full suite of ISTA-approved packaging testing services helps ensure that your materials comply with the latest standards for integrity, strength and durability.

Element’s packaging testing program is designed to evaluate performance under even the most extreme environments. From crush resistance to vibration, we expose a variety of container types to the environmental and dynamic stresses encountered during transit, ensuring the reliability of your packaging under any condition.

Element Packaging Testing and Shipping Simulation Services

Our package test lab experts simulate the conditions your package will encounter in shipping and freight environments. We provide specialist support to the following industries:

Medical device package testing

ISTA package testing

Military standard package testing

Our package test lab experts simulate the conditions your package will encounter in shipping and freight environments. We provide the following package testing and package integrity testing services:

  • Package testing to ASTM D4169, "Standard Practice for Performance Testing of Shipping Containers and Systems"
  • Package testing to ASTM D6551/D6551M, "Standard Practice for Accelerated Weathering of Pressure-Sensitive Tapes by Xenon-Arc Exposure Apparatus"
  • Package testing to ASTM C165, "Standard Test Method for Measuring Compressive Properties of Thermal Insulations"
  • Package testing to FED-STD-101C, Test Procedures for Packaging Materials
  • ISTA testing, Projects 1 through 3, 49 Code of Federal Regulations, Department of Transportation, and military standards
  • Package vibration and shock testing
  • Packaging drop testing and incline impact testing
  • Conformance to the International Safe Transit Association or ISTA package testing, Class 1000
  • Package testing fixture design and fabrication on-site
  • Walk-in size environmental chambers available for preconditioning of test items
  • Materials testing to other package testing standards and quality programs
  • Product packaging testing for your industry
Container and Package Testing ISTA 640 x 480 April 2018
Container and packaging testing

ISTA Testing

Our services are designed to meet the rigorous requirements of the International Safe Transit Association (ISTA). Element's state-of-the-art ISTA testing labs are equipped with high-frequency vibration and shock equipment, walk-in chambers for large components, and customizable fixtures for unique and challenging projects.

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Container and package testing

Plastic Container Testing

Plastic containers require USP Class Plastics certification. Element plastic container testing can ensure your containers meet those standards. 

container and package testing

Durability Testing/Package Inspection

The shipping process is imperfect, and sometimes mistakes happen. Durability testing packaging inspection put a package through a series of tests simulating mistakes that may occur during the shipping process, such as dropping packages. 

container and package testing

Shipping Simulation

Element can put your package through its paces by exposing it to the dynamic environmental and dynamic stresses encountered while in transit to its intended destination. From extreme temperatures, to random vibration testing, we will ensure the integrity of your packaging and provide peace of mind, one test at a time. 

container and package testing

Medical Package Testing

Medical Package integrity testing is used to detect packaging problems that could potentially affect the sterility of a medical device. 

Visual Inspection

Our experts perform visual inspection of packaging to ensure that seals, pouches and other barrier materials are intact, ensuring safety and sterility. We carefully examine packaging to ensure that there are no visible tears, punctures, scratches or other signs of defect.

Vacuum Leak Testing 

Used to evaluate the integrity of vacuum seals in packaging with bubbles or headspace, vacuum leak testing uses increasing water pressure to ensure that no leaks occur in packaging. Our experts will submerge, pressurize, and depressurize samples, then perform a visual inspection for any signs of defect.

Bubble Defect Testing

Bubble leak testing is used to find large leaks and other defects in seals and barriers that affect the integrity of packaging. We submerge samples in water and apply pressure to determine the integrity of the packaging. If any bubbles are released, it is a sign that there is a defect in the packaging. 

Dye Leak Testing 

Dye leak testing is a method used to determine whether seals in medical device packaging are intact. Our experts use one of several methods to expose the packaging to a colored dye, then evaluate the results. If any of the dye penetrates the seal on the sample, the packaging is considered defective and non-sterile.

Environmental Chamber Testing
container and package testing

Climatic and Environmental Simulation Testing

During the shipping process, your packages travels through many different climates and suffers many unfamiliar environments. Climatic and environmental simulation testing ensures that your package is prepared for this journey, and will reach the other side unharmed. 

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Our package test lab experts simulate the conditions your package will encounter in shipping and freight environments. We provide the following package testing and package integrity testing services:

  • Package vibration and shock testing
  • Packaging drop testing and incline impact testing
  • Accelerated weathering and accelerated ageing
  • Package testing fixture design and fabrication on-site
  • Walk-in size environmental chambers available for preconditioning of test items
  • Materials testing to other package testing standards and quality programs
  • Product packaging testing for your industry
container and package testing

Customized Package Testing Programs

Using specialized testing equipment and highly trained technical staff, we subject packages to a wide variety of tests that replicate shipping conditions in national and international settings. These tests will highlight any packaging issues that may ultimately cause damage to the product, saving both time and money in the long run. As an independent testing lab, we also help develop custom testing programs for specialized packages; our customized shipping simulations can anticipate nearly any hazard a package may encounter while passing through a specialized distribution system. 

3A

3-A Sanitary Dairy Testing (No. 18 & 20)

American Society for Testing and Materials

ASTM D3228, ASTM D4169, ASTM D6551/D6551M

Federal Standards

FED-STD-101C

International Transit Association

ISTA 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1G, 1H, ISTA 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, ISTA 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 3E, 3F, 3G, ISTA 7D, 6-FEDEX-A and B, 6-SAMSCLUB, 6-AMAZON.COM

Let Element help you reach the goal of every successful business: your product properly and efficiently packaged, and arriving damage-free to satisfied customers. We can make it happen.

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Our deliverable is certainty - high quality data, test reports and certificates that you can absolutely rely on when making decisions about your materials and compliance. Engage with an expert today.

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