Testing apparatus

Abstract: Modified apparatus for testing the adhesive strength of the bond between the liner and medium in corrugated paperboard in which a clamp is used having a plate 24 abutting one liner and fingers or prongs 21 holding the medium and liner against the plate 24. The bond between the medium and the other liner is measured by applying a force to a strip bonded to the other liner and measuring the applied force which results in failure of the bond. The sample preparation required is simplified with this design which avoids the use of hooks penetrating the sample.

Description: This invention relates to methods of failure testing of materials and in particular corrugated paper board. One particular aspect of corrugated board quality control is the quality of the adhesive bond between the lines and the medium, particularly its resistance to water. Three test methods have been used. The standard test is a subjective test of immersion of a sample in water then manual peeling of the liners from the medium and a visual assessment of fibre tear. Absence of fibre tear indicates poor adhesive resistance to water damage. The FEFCO method No. 9 involves the immersion of a piece of board in water with a specified number of glue bonds subjected to the load imposed by a hanging weight (either 250 or 350g). The number of hours the bond can withstand the load is measured. Another more objective method is described in Australian Patent 581511. That patent discloses a technique of preparing a sample of corrugated board by isolating a portion of the outer liner by removing part of the liner to isolate one piece attached to the medium. A hole or eyelet is prepared in the other portion of the board and a plastic strip is hot melt bonded to the portion of liner to be tested. Hooks are placed in a hole in the plastic strip and the board. The testing apparatus comprises a beam balance with a water collecter on one beam and the sample on the other. The plastic strip is connected to the balance beam while the paperboard sample is secured to the stand. Water is added progressively to the collecter until the wet sample fails and the liner is displaced from the medium. This method aims to apply a constantly increasing force parallel to the glue lines of the sample. Whilst this test was the first method to produce quantitative results, a number of difficulties exist with this method. The apparatus is clumsy and difficult to control and must be attended by an operator. Sample preparation is tedious and must be carefully done to avoid damage to the medium. The wet sample also tends to tear at the hole in the second portion. Further, if the glue bond of the side to be tested is appreciably stronger than the glue bond in the other side of the sample, then failure occurs on the weaker side rather than on the side to be tested. It is an object of this invention to overcome these problems. The present invention provides a clamp which enables one liner to medium glue bond to be tested whilst firmly securing the medium and other liner. This method specifically loads the glue bond under test and avoids the problem of the sample merely failing at its weakest point. In particular this invention provides apparatus for measuring the strength of the adhesive bond between a corrugated paperboard medium (16) and a paperboard liner, said apparatus comprising a load measuring device, a load applying device and means for clamping a corrugated paperboard sample between said load measuring device and said load applying device, said apparatus being characterised in that said sample is prepared by bonding a rigid strip to said liner, said load applying device being adapted to apply a force to said strip in a direction parallel to the adhesive bond between said corrugated medium and said liner and gripping means connected to said load measuring device, said gripping means comprising a plate and a plurality of prongs adapted to be within the flutes of said corrugated medium so that said gripping means grips the corrugated medium. A sample of board to be tested is carefully cut and the liner adjacent to the glue bond under test is bonded to a plastic strip. The liner and medium on the opposite side to the glue bond to be tested are securely fixed to the test instrument by a clamping arrangement. The preferred form of clamp comprises a body section projecting from which is a series of prongs adapted to fit within the flutes of the corrugated medium at the appropriate flute pitch and a backing plate loaded against the other face of the liner, and such backing plate is connected to said body section. The backing plate is adjustable to clamp the liner and the glue bond not under test between the prongs and the backing plate. The plastic strip is then secured to a projecting tongue in the test instrument. This strip is preferably connected to the load applying device while the gripping device for the medium is connected to a load cell as part of the load measuring device. This arrangement means that a small sample is cut from the board to be tested and no further preparation is required. The sample is effectively tensioned by means of securely holding one liner and the medium bonded to it and applying a shearing force to the other liner. Another aspect of this invention provides a testing apparatus comprising: 1) a load cell attached to which a sample clamp as described above opposed to which is; 2) a second sample clamp secured to a means for applying a progressively increasing force to the glue bond under the test via the plastic strip. The preferred embodiment of this is a projecting lug or other clamping arrangement which attaches to the plastic strip; 3) a controller for controlling the force applied to the sample by said means; and 4) a measuring and display device for measuring the force at which displacement and sample failure occur and displaying it. A preferred form of this invention will now be described in which Figure 1 is a schematic view of a testing apparatus of this invention. Figure 2 is a plan view of the apparatus and Figure 3 is a side view of Figure 2 and Figure 4A is a detailed view of the clamp as shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4B is a side view of the prepared sample. The apparatus comprises a body section 5 mounted on which is a load cell 6 secured to which is clamp means 7 and mounted at the other end is the force applying device 9 secured to which is the projecting tongue 10. The sample 8 is held between the clamp 7 and projecting tongue 10. The controller 11 incorporates a microprocessor and is programmed to provide: (i) force measurement and control; (ii) failure detection of sample; (iii) shear rate input; (iv) display functions; (v) a calibration routine; (vi) statistical processing of results. The sample 8 best seen in Figure 4B comprises the topliner 15, the medium 16 and the bottom liner 17. Liner 15 is bonded preferably by double sided tape to a plastic strip 18. A hole in plastic strip 18 clips into place over the projecting lug on the tongue 10. The clamp 7 best seen in Figure 4A comprises a body section 20, a set of prongs 21 which lie on medium 16. These prongs 21 are secured to body section 20 by the screws 22. Plate 24 abuts the outerface of liner 17 so that liner 17 and medium 16 are held between plate 24 and prongs 21. Plate 24 is supported on screw jack 25 which is mounted for threaded movement in body section 20. The screw jack 25 with associated spring 26 ensures the plate 24 is strongly loaded against liner 17. The abutment plate 23 which is part of the body section 20 of clamp 7 is arranged around prongs 21 to prevent any movement of the medium 16 and bottom liner 17. The avoidance of hooks by using clamp 7 not only avoids tearing of the sample but also enables better sample alignment so that shear force is applied parallel to the flutes and the adhesion lines between the medium and the liner. From the above it can be seen that the apparatus and sample holder provide a simple and effective means of measuring the wet strength of adhesive bonds in corrugated boards.

Claims: Apparatus for measuring the strength of the adhesive bond between a corrugated paperboard medium (16) and a paperboard liner (15), said apparatus comprising a load measuring device, a load applying device (9) and means (7) for clamping a corrugated paperboard sample between said load measuring device and said load applying device, said apparatus being characterised in that said sample is prepared by bonding a rigid strip (18) to said liner (15), said load applying device (9) being adapted to apply a force to said strip in a direction parallel to the adhesive bond between said corrugated medium and said liner and gripping means connected to said load measuring device, said gripping means comprising a plate (24) and a plurality of prongs (21) adapted to be within the flutes of said corrugated medium so that said gripping means grips the corrugated medium.

Inventors: MCKINLAY PETER ROBERT, TSEGLAKOFF GHRISTOS, MCKINLAY, PETER ROBERT, TSEGLAKOFF, GHRISTOS
Applicants: AMCOR LTD, AMCOR LIMITED
Application year: 1989
Main classification: G01N19
IPC codes: G01N3, G01N19, G01N33