Contents

1 Definition
2. Design factors
3. Common types of cushioning
4. Design for shock protection
5. Design for vibration protection
6. Evaluation of finished package
7. ASTM Standards

Cushioning
Package cushioning is used to help protect fragile items during shipment. It is common for a
transport package to be dropped, kicked, and impacted: These events may produce potentially
damaging shocks. Transportation vibration from conveyors, trucks, railroads, or aircraft can also
damage some items. Shock and vibration are controlled by cushioning so that the chance of
product damage is greatly reduced.

Cushioning is usually inside a shipping container such as a corrugated box. It is designed to

deform or crush to help keep levels of shock and vibration below levels that may damage the
product inside the box. Depending on the specific situation, package cushioning can often be
between two and three inches thick.

Internal packaging materials (sometimes the same ones used for cushioning) are also used for
functions other than cushioning. Some are used just to immobilize the products in the box and to
block them in place. Others are just used to fill a void and do not have a cushioning function.

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Molded expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam) cushioning

Design factors of Cushioning

 When designing packaging, the choice of cushioning may depend on many factors:
 Effective protection of product from shock and vibration whether cushioning is resilient
(performs for multiple impacts) resistance to creep – cushion deformation under static
load material costs labor costs, productivity
 Effects of temperature, humidity, and air pressure on cushioning cleanliness of
cushioning (dust, insects, etc.)
 Effect on size of external shipping container environmental and recycling issues
sensitivity of product to static electricity etc.

Common types of cushioning

Loose Fill: Some cushion products are flowable and are packed loosely around the items in the
box. The box is closed to tighten the pack. This includes expanded polystyrene foam pieces
(Foam peanuts), similar pieces made of starch-based foams, and common popcorn. The amount
of loose fill material required and the transmitted shock levels vary with the specific type of
material.
Paper: Paper can be manually or mechanically wadded up and used as a cushioning material.
Heavier grades of paper provide more weight-bearing ability than old newspapers. Creped
cellulose wadding is also available. (Movers often wrap objects with several layers of Kraft
paper or embossed pulp before putting them into boxes.)
Corrugated fiberboard pads: Multi-layer or cut-and-folded shapes of corrugated board can be
used as cushions. These structures are designed to crush and deform under shock stress and
provide some degree of cushioning. Paperboard composite honeycomb structures are also used
for cushioning.

Foam structures: Several types of polymeric foams are used for cushioning. The most common
are: Expanded Polystyrene (also Styrofoam), polypropylene, polyethylene, and polyurethane.

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These can be molded engineered shapes or sheets which are cut and glued into cushion
structures.

Foam-in-place is another method of using polyurethane foams. These fill the box, fully
encapsulating the product to immobilize it. It is also used to form engineered structures.
Molded pulp:

Molded pulp cushioning

Molded pulp cushioning

Pulp can be molded into shapes suitable for cushioning and for immobilizing products in a
package. Molded pulp is made from recycled newspapers and is recyclable.

Inflated Products: Bubble Wrap consists of sheets of plastic film with enclosed “bubbles” of
air. These sheets can be layered or wrapped around items to be shipped. A variety of engineered
inflatable air cushions are also available. Note that inflated air pillows used for void-fill are not
suited for cushioning.

Other: Several other types of cushioning are available including suspension cushions,
thermoformed end caps, and shock mounts.

Drop test of cushioned package to measure the transmitted shock

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Proper performance of cushioning is dependent on its proper design and use. It is often best to
use a trained packaging engineer, reputable vendor, consultant, or independent laboratory. An
engineer needs to know the severity of shock (drop height, etc.) to protect against.
This can be based on an existing specification, published industry standards and publications,
field studies, etc.
Knowledge of the product to be packaged is critical. Field experience may indicate the types of
damage previously experienced. Laboratory analysis can help quantify the fragility of the item,
often reported in g-s. Engineering judgment can also be an excellent starting point. Sometimes a
product can be made more rugged or can be supported to make it less susceptible to breakage.
The amount of shock transmitted by a particular cushioning material is largely dependent on the
thickness of the cushion, the drop height, and the load-bearing area of the cushion (static
loading). A cushion must deform under shock for it to function. If a product is on a large load-
bearing area, the cushion may not deform and will not cushion the shock. If the load-bearing area
is too small, the product may “bottom out” during a shock; the shock is not cushioned. Engineers
use “cushion curves” to choose the best thickness and load-bearing area for a cushioning
material. Often two to three inches (50 – 75 mm) of cushioning are needed to protect fragile
items.

Design for vibration protection

The process for vibration protection (or isolation) involves similar considerations as that for
shock. Cushions can be thought of as performing like springs. Depending on cushion thickness
and load-bearing area and on the vibration frequency, the cushion May 1) not have any influence
on input vibration, 2) amplify the input vibration at resonance, or 3) isolate the product from the
vibration. Proper design is critical for cushion performance.

Evaluation of finished package

Verification and validation of prototype designs are required. The design of a package and its
cushioning is often an iterative process involving several designs, evaluations, redesigns, etc.
Several (ASTM, ISTA, and others) published package testing protocols are available to evaluate

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the performance of a proposed package. Field performance should be monitored for feedback
into the design process.

ASTM Standards

 D1596 Standard Test Method for Dynamic Shock Cushioning Characteristics of

Packaging Material
 D2221 Standard Test Method for Creep Properties of Package Cushioning Materials
 D3332 Standard Test Methods for Mechanical-Shock Fragility of Products, Using Shock
Machines
 D3580 Standard Test Methods for Vibration (Vertical Linear Motion) Test of Products
 D4168 Standard Test Methods for Transmitted Shock Characteristics of Foam-in-Place
Cushioning Materials
 D4169 Standard Practice for Performance Testing of Shipping Containers and Systems
 D6198 Standard Guide for Transport Packaging Design
 D6537 Standard Practice for Instrumented Package Shock Testing For Determination of
Package Performance and others

Cushioning materials

 Purpose of using cushioning materials

 Required characteristics of cushioning materials
 Description of various kinds of cushioning materials
 Mode of action of cushioning materials
 Selection criteria for cushioning materials

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Purpose of using cushioning materials

Goods are frequently transported which are particularly sensitive to mechanical stresses and
which must consequently be protected from damage due to impact, jolting or vibration in transit.
They are thus additionally protected by cushioning materials inside the shipping packaging.

Fragile goods, such as glass, ceramics, porcelain, or sensitive electronic products, such as
computers and electronic home entertainment equipment, are particularly susceptible to
mechanical stresses and should be protected.

In addition to protecting the package contents, cushioning materials may also be used to adjust
the packages to a standard size, in which case they act as adapters between nonstandard package
contents and the packaging (modularity of shipping packages).

Mode of action of cushioning materials

Cushioning materials absorb a proportion of the kinetic energy arising when the package suffers
impact or is dropped and increase the braking distance of the package contents. Correct selection
and sizing of the cushioning material thus ensure that the package content suffers no damage.

Required characteristics of cushioning materials

Cushioning materials must in particular fulfill four main requirements:

Recovery is one of the most important properties of a cushioning material; it ensures that the
package contents continue to be protected even when repeatedly subjected to similar stresses. If
recovery is too low, the braking distance declines on constant exposure to stress, such that the
resultant kinetic energy can no longer adequately be absorbed and the package contents may be
damaged.

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Cushioning materials must be insensitive to climatic conditions, such as moisture due to elevated
relative humidity, direct solar radiation and extreme variations in temperature and their action
must not be impaired by such exposure.

Especially in the case of package contents which are at risk of corrosion, it is important that the
cushioning materials are not hygroscopic and consequently do not promote corrosion. They
should furthermore not contain any aggressive constituents (neutral pH), which could contribute
towards corrosion. The cushioning material and package contents should not interact and
possibly impair each other's properties.

Use of the cushioning material should be effective, simple, environmentally compatible and
cost-effective.

Selection criteria for cushioning materials

If it is to be possible to dimension the cushioning material properly, it is essential to know what
stresses it can withstand without suffering damage. Since industrial equipment in particular today
consists of many different components of differing levels of sensitivity, it is very difficult to
provide a general classification of goods. The manufacturer will in each instance be able to
provide precise details about the sensitivity of their product.
The sensitivity classification of a product is determined by the admissible g value. 1g is the
acceleration due to gravity (9.81 m/s2), i.e. the force which usually applies to an object on the
earth.
If an acceleration of 2 g is applied (for example during fast cornering), the weight of the object
doubles. This is precisely what happens to an item for transport which is secured on the loading
area of a truck or stowed in a sea container. However, in addition to acceleration, the duration of
any impact must always also be taken into account. The longer the duration of any impact, the
greater is the risk of damage.

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Stresses during transport

The stresses arising during transport are the second important parameter in selecting a
cushioning material. These stresses may be highly variable and it is extremely difficult to
determine exactly what they will be. The greatest stresses occur if the packaged items are thrown
or dropped. This is why the potential drop height of a package as a function of its weight is used
as a measure of stress.

The regulations of Deutsche Bahn (German railroad operator) and Deutsche Post (German postal
authorities) define maximum drop heights for packages as follows:

Regulations Weight of package Maximum drop height

Deutsche Bahn 50 kg 52 cm

75 kg 46 cm

100 kg 40 cm

150 kg 27 cm

200 kg 15 cm

Deutsche Post no weight limit 60 - 80 cm

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Static area load

The cushioning material is exposed to both dynamic and static forces during transport and cargo
handling, but only static stresses apply during storage. These stresses are known as the static area
load acting upon a cushioning material, which is calculated from the weight of the package
contents and its bearing area:

The static area load is important for the purpose of selecting a suitable cushioning material, as
the material must not lose its recovery when at rest merely under the weight of the package
contents.

Recovery

As mentioned above, recovery is a decisive indicator of the loading capacity of the cushioning
material on repeated exposure to stresses. If recovery is too low, the braking distance declines on
constant exposure to stress, such that the resultant kinetic energy can no longer adequately be
absorbed and the package contents may be damaged.

Specific weight

Specific weight is stated in kg/m3 and is a measure of the hardness of a cushioning material; the
higher is the specific weight, the harder is the cushioning material.

Resonance behavior

The stresses arising due to the transport of an item on a vehicle are composed of many different
and simultaneously acting vibrations and impacts.

If theses vibrations are at the natural frequency of the package contents, resonance may occur.
The item is consequently exposed to greater acceleration in the vertical direction, the protective
action of the cushioning material is canceled out, so exposing the cushioned item to greater risk.

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Especially when transporting sensitive items, such as instruments or electronic components, the
frequency values of the means of transport used and the natural frequencies of the cushioning
material and item for transport must be known and adjusted to each other. In this way, by using a
truck with air suspension, it is possible to avoid the "excitation" frequency when transporting
electronic components. Under unfavorable transport conditions, this excitation frequency would
occur during transport on a leaf-sprung vehicle, so increasing the amplitude of vibration of the
package contents and, once the resonant range of the cushioning material had been reached,
damaging the package contents.

Stress range of the cushioning material

Every cushioning material has a stress range within which it exhibits optimum effectiveness.
Cushioning curves, which are the plot of maximum impact deceleration against static area load,
are used to select suitable cushioning materials. These cushioning curves may be used to
determine the cushioning thickness which will provide sufficient shock absorption. Cushioning
curves are plotted for a specific drop height. These curves indicate, for example, that a 5 cm
thickness of plastic foam cushioning is required to reduce impact forces to the admissible level
of at most 30 g. The area required to provide cushioning beneath a packaged item may then
easily be calculated

Description of various kinds of cushioning materials

Airbags

Airbags consist of an elastic film which is inflated with air. When at rest, only the static load
generated by the weight of the package contents bears upon the cushioning. When dynamic loads
occur, these are absorbed by compression of the cushion. The quantity of inflation air may be
varied in accordance with the particular properties and requirements of the package contents.
Airbags are commercially available in various sizes and designs, ranging from spheres, standard
cushions to corner and edge cushioning and tubular cushioning.

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 Airbags are mainly used in containers and railroad freight cars and only rarely in trucks.
Advantages of airbags:
 Ease of handling
 Nonhygroscopic
 Highly versatile
 Largely insensitive to extreme climatic conditions (heat, cold)
 Elevated recovery and ideal shock absorption characteristics

Disadvantage of airbags:

 Susceptible to pointed and sharp articles, such as nails or the like

Bubble films

Bubble films function in essentially the same way as airbags. They consist of two plastic films,
one of which is completely flat and the other has small, round indentations, which, once the two
films have been heat sealed together, contain the necessary air. Bubble films are mainly used
inside packaging containers. The advantages and disadvantages are the same as for airbags.

Rubberized fiber cushioning

Rubberized fiber cushioning provides high quality protection for demanding items. This
cushioning is made from animal hair or coconut fiber, which is cleaned, converted into
nonwoven mats, coated with rubber and vulcanized to form solidly bonded sheets.

Rubberized fiber cushioning is relatively insensitive to the effects of moisture and high or low
temperatures and exhibits very good recovery even on long-term exposure to loads.

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Plastic foam cushioning materials

Plastic foam cushioning materials are mainly made from polystyrene (PS), polyurethane (PU)
and polyethylene (PE). Plastic foams are available in flexible, semirigid and rigid forms. Their
cushioning characteristics are determined not only by their specific weight but also by their cell
structure. The particular characteristics of the various starting materials are briefly described
below.

Polystyrene (PS):

PS is a somewhat soft, elastic foamed plastic with closed cells containing the air required to
provide resilience. Recovery is, however, rather limited.

PS is not itself hygroscopic and thus remains fully functional on exposure to moisture. It should
be noted, however, that, due to its structure (enclosed capillaries), PS cushioning material
nevertheless has a certain tendency to absorb or release water vapor. Appropriate action must
accordingly be taken to protect package contents which are at risk of corrosion.

PS cushioning material is produced both as relatively large moldings, such as cushioning frames,
edge or corner pads, and as a loose fill cushioning material, known as PS chips. When large
moldings are used, the cushioning area often has to be reduced as the static area loads of the
package contents are not sufficient to ensure effective cushioning.

Polyurethane (PU)

Polyurethanes are produced in flexible, semi-rigid and rigid forms with an open cell structure. It
is primarily flexible and semi-rigid grades of polyurethane which are used in packaging
applications.

The shock absorbing properties of PU foams increase with foam hardness, while recovery and
elasticity decline.

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Especially on repeated exposure to identical stresses, this characteristic may cause problems with
an excessively rigid grade of foam as there is a continual decline in recovery.

Polyurethane foams are produced as relatively large moldings, generally by direct foaming
around the item to be packaged. If this is not feasible, the moldings may also be pre-foamed.

One disadvantage of PU foams is their relatively complex production process. Their ideal
application is thus not for mass-produced items, but instead for packaging and cushioning
constantly differing items.

Polyethylene (PE):

Like polystyrenes, polyethylene foams are closed-cell products. They exhibit excellent
cushioning characteristics, which are comparable with those of rubberized fiber cushioning.
Even when exposed to major loads, they retain their cushioning capability.

PE foams do, however, have two considerable disadvantages. Firstly, they are costly, which
excludes them from many applications; secondly they do not have good weather resistance.

Terminology

In mechanics, an impact is a high force or shock applied over a short time period when two or
more bodies collide. Such a force or acceleration usually has a greater effect than a lower force
applied over a proportionally longer time period of time. The effect depends critically on the
relative velocity of the bodies to one another.

At normal speeds, during a perfectly inelastic collision, an object struck by a projectile will
deform, and this deformation will absorb most, or even all, of the force of the collision. Viewed
from the conservation of energy perspective, the kinetic energy of the projectile is changed into

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heat and sound energy, as a result of the deformations and vibrations induced in the struck
object. However, these deformations and vibrations cannot occur instantaneously. A high-
velocity collision (an impact) does not provide sufficient time for these deformations and
vibrations to occur. Thus, the struck material behaves as if it were more brittle than it is, and the
majority of the applied force goes into fracturing the material. Or, another way to look at it is that
materials actually are more brittle on short time scales than on long time scales: this is related to
time-temperature superposition.

Different materials can behave in quite different ways in impact when compared with static
loading conditions. Ductile materials like steel tend to become more brittle at high loading rates,
and spalling may occur on the reverse side to the impact if penetration doesn't occur. The way in
which the kinetic energy is distributed through the section is also important in determining its
response. Projectiles apply a Hertzian contact stress at the point of impact to a solid body, with
compression stresses under the point, but with bending loads a short distance away. Since most
materials are weaker in tension than compression, this is the zone where cracks tend to form and
grow.

Fall factor

In climbing, (specifically in lead climbing) using a dynamic rope, the fall factor f is the ratio of
the height h a climber falls before his rope begins to stretch and the rope length L available to
absorb the energy of the fall

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Impact force

The impact force is defined as the maximum tension in the rope when a climber falls. Using the
common rope model of an undamped harmonic oscillator (HO) the impact force Fmax in the rope
is given by:

where mg is the climber's weight, h is the fall height and k is the spring constant of the rope.
Using the elasticity modulus E = k L/q which is a material constant, the impact force depends
only on the fall factor f, i.e. on the ratio h/L, the cross section q of the rope and the climber’s
weight. The more rope is available, the softer the rope becomes which is just compensating
the higher fall energy. The maximum force on the climber is Fmax reduced by the climber’s
weight mg. The above formula can be easily obtained by the law of conservation of energy at
the time of maximum tension resp. maximum elongation xmax of the rope:

Using the HO model to obtain the impact force of real climbing ropes as a function of
fall height h and climber's weight mg, one must know the experimental value for E of a
given rope. However, rope manufacturers give only the rope’s impact force F0 and its
static and dynamic elongations that are measured under standard UIAA fall conditions:
A fall height h0 of 2 x 2.3m with an available rope length L0 = 2.6m leads to a fall factor
f0 = h0/L0 = 1.77 and a fall velocity v0 = (2gh0)1/2 = 9.5m/sec at the end of falling the
distance h0. The mass m0 used in the fall is 80kg. Using these values to eliminate the
unknown quantity E leads to an expression of the impact force as a function of arbitrary
fall heights h and arbitrary fall factors f of the form:[1]

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 Impact force as a function of dynamic elongation^(-1) for different friction constants
κ.

This simple undamped harmonic oscillator model of a rope, however, cannot explain
real ropes. First, it is evident that real ropes do hardly oscillate after a fall. Already
after one period the rope has stopped to oscillate. The HO also cannot explain
correctly the experimental values of a climbing rope such as its static and dynamic
elongation and the correct relations to its impact force. This can be healed only by
considering friction in the rope. On the basis of a Viscoelastic Standard Linear Solid
model one gets more complicated expressions for impact force and static and
dynamic elongations.[1] Friction in the rope leads to energy dissipation and thus to a
reduction of the impact force compared to the undamped harmonic oscillator model.
It also leads to an additional elongation of the rope. The diagram shows how the
impact forces of real climbing ropes under standard UIAA fall conditions relate to
their measured dynamic elongations. It also shows that the HO model cannot explain
these dependencies of real climbing ropes.When the rope is clipped into several
carabiners between the climbers.

In science, buckling is a mathematical instability, leading to a failure mode.

Theoretically, buckling is caused by a bifurcation in the solution to the equations of static

equilibrium. At a certain stage under an increasing load, further load is able to be sustained in
one of two states of equilibrium: an undeformed state, or a laterally-deformed state.

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In practice, buckling is characterized by a sudden failure of a structural member subjected to
high compressive stress, where the actual compressive stress at the point of failure is less than
the ultimate compressive stresses that the material is capable of withstanding. For example,
during earthquakes, reinforced concrete members may experience lateral deformation of the
longitudinal reinforcing bars. This mode of failure is also described as failure due to elastic
instability. Mathematical analysis of buckling makes use of an axial load eccentricity that
introduces a moment, which does not form part of the primary forces to which the member is
subjected. When load is constantly being applied on a member, such as column, it will ultimately
become large enough to cause the member to become unstable. Further load will cause
significant and somewhat unpredictable deformations, possibly leading to complete loss of load-
carrying capacity. The member is said to have buckled, to have deformed.

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