Gas permeability, a key material property in research and development

This project proposal concerns the purchase/installation/operation of test equipment (2 MOCON modules: 1 for oxygen, 1 for water vapour) for measuring the gas permeability of materials/concepts. The equipment will be placed in the conditioned labs of the research group MPR&S (Materials and Packaging Research & Services, formerly Packaging Centre) of Hasselt University/imo-imomec in the Technology Centre, Wetenschapspark 27, BE-3590 Diepenbeek. The test equipment will be used nationally and internationally for scientific services to companies, applied project research in cooperation with companies/organisations, fundamental doctoral research and in education.

The MPR&S research group at UHasselt/imo-imomec with a focus on physical, mechanical characterisation of materials, has a unique expertise in measuring gas permeability for oxygen, water vapour and carbon dioxide of (packaging) materials/concepts. It is a material property crucial in various industrial sectors such as food, pharma, automotive, ... Worldwide, this property is mainly measured with MOCON modules for which international standards have been developed (e.g. ASTM). The MOCON modules purchased in 1998-2001 are no longer maintained by the supplier and urgently need to be renewed to ensure the measurement capacity for scientific services, applied project research and doctoral research. Today, maintaining the entire measurement capacity is also very important due to the upcoming European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulations (PPWR), which forces companies to review their packaging practices and develop and market new, sustainable materials that reduce packaging waste by reducing material, increasing recycling and reuse. However, these new materials/packaging should contain similar functionalities to their predecessors and should therefore be analysed extensively during their development process and as applications. The impact on gas permeability is important to map out in this respect. Through this investment, this specific analysis work within MPR&S is once again assured for the coming years.

Concrete objectives of the MPR&S investment project:

• To renew the permeability test equipment for measuring O2 and H2O vapour permeability of materials/concepts with the MOCON OXTRAN-2/22-H & PERMATRAN-W-3/34-G.
• Maintaining optimal measurement capacity so that requested measurements can be carried out in an efficient and qualitative manner for companies/organisations.