Simplified Performance Evaluation Methods for Cushioning Materials

To evaluate quantitatively the performance of cushioning materials, a cushion curve is indispensable. However, the desired cushioning effect may sometimes be absent when we use the cushion curve to design a transport package. In addition, to plot the cushion curve, massive dynamic compression tests are traditionally necessary. Thus, large amounts of labor and material resources are required. Therefore, we used expanded polyethylene and laminated-board cushion as test materials to represent typical cushioning materials, and proposed simplified performance evaluation methods based on certain dynamic compression tests. An analysis of the experimental results showed that to obtain a more accurate packaging design, the shearing effect must be taken into account when using the cushion curve; For both plastic and paper cushions, new proposed performance evaluation methods significantly reduce the number of dynamic compression tests needed to accurately evaluate an actual packaging design.