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Responding the Right Way to Pressure

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HQC pioneers with new pouch fitment/weld spout design for thick liquid products

Many pouch fitments/weld spouts welded into pouches have been used for products that don’t require much pressure for dispensing. Pureed baby food is an example. In these cases, the product is more drawn than pushed from the pouch. With gravity providing the pull, the weld between the pouch and the pouch fitment/weld spout isn’t exerted.

These products’ thin viscosity has allowed them to move through and out of the unit with ease. As pouches are becoming more popular, however, they are now also holding thicker products such as ice cream and motor oil.

Pouches for motor oils and even ice cream toppings often include a 9mm–10mm pouch fitment/weld spout. With oil, viscosity tends to be more free-flowing when the product is put in the pouch, but when temperatures drop below 30, the product can thicken. Consumers will push harder to get it through the pouch fitment’s/weld spout’s smaller diameter. If resistance creates too much pressure and the pouch fitment/weld spout isn’t welded to the right strength, the seam between it and the pouch can break.

In 2012–13, HQC worked with an ice cream company on a pouch fitment/weld spout for a new ice cream product. At first, the film and the pouch fitment/weld spout area were failing at low pounds per square inch (psi) of pressure. Switching to a different film also could have made the project cost prohibitive.

HQC made the current film work. Through eight months of intensive research and development, we raised burst pressures by changing the design of the sealing jaws. These are the metal components that merge the film and the pouch fitment/weld spout and then heat to seal them. Jaw design and set-up are crucial in this phase.

Our effort and innovation increased the ice cream pouch’s burst pressures from 7–10 psi to pressures as high as 26–27 psi. Averages were in the upper teens, a 100% increase over the original strength.

Product manufacturers have one chance to make a first impression. Without the right pouch fitment/weld spout, a pouch might not perform as expected. For ice cream, a pouch that fails or breaks can drive consumers back to standard containers.

HQC offers the resources to design and weld the pouch fitment/weld spout you need. We are always advancing in this area and helping others to achieve better film-to-fitment welding.

Ensure your pouch fitments/weld spouts are created with care. Contact us at (630) 820-5550 to learn more about how HQC can innovate for you.