Where Does Container Closure Integrity Break Down In Ultra-Cold Storage?

Closure integrity is usually qualified at ambient conditions, but elastomeric stoppers behave differently as temperatures drop toward −80 °C. Omar Chabchoub and Adnane EL Haouat of PTI's Europe Center of Excellence test a commercial capped 2R vial configuration using hard vacuum helium leak detection. A single-vial pilot gave a first, imprecise indication of failure onset, and an extended campaign with four samples at each temperature point then tightened the picture considerably. The work also tests an alternative closure configuration with harder stoppers, with a result that may run against expectations, and it offers a glass-transition explanation for the behavior.

Explore the methodology, the leak-rate data, and the narrowed failure interval to see how the findings were established.