How Strong Is Your Blister Pack?

Most of us living in the Northeast are eager to put away snow shovels for gardening tools. However, not everyone welcomes spring as this brings other kinds of problems. For some individuals, spring means itchy eyes, sneezing, and a runny nose from an allergic reaction to pollen. To make matters worse, some allergy medications in blister packs can be difficult and frustrating to open. Sore fingers can result if the blister pack is too hard to break and the pill might accidentally end up on the floor when it finally pops out, sometimes getting stepped on and crushed in the process.

As blister packages for pharmaceutical drugs become more popular because of their many benefits, such as protecting drugs over long shelf-life, portability, and being tamper resistant, we wish this packaging was easier to open. Some blister packs require more force to open than others, even though they are in the same box! It would be helpful if these blister packs were manufactured with consistency, such that the force/load required to pop the pill out for consumption was always the same. Therefore, measuring the required force to push the tablet or capsule out of a blister pack is a necessary QC test method.

Now, manufacturers can use a physical test instrument, like the Brookfield CT3 Analyzer, to develop and qualify blister pack strength that meets customer needs. It must be strong enough to withstand rupture during shipping/distribution, while providing easy extraction by adults and remaining significantly difficult for young children to open. The CT3 Tester with Blister Pack Support Fixture (TA-BPS) utilizes a compression test that takes the guesswork out of packaging design and gives quality control the necessary tool to guarantee compliance with R&D specifications.