Earticle

The impact absorption materials made of synthetic organic chemical product like Expanded Polystyrene( EPS), Expanded Polyethylene(EPE), Expanded Polyurethane(EPU), etc. have been used with general packaging material until the present. But nowadays, the use of these materials is intended to be decreased and to be recycled in connection with environmental pollution. In addition, it has been tried to substitute these materials with non-pollution materials( natural materials) like pulp mould, paper protectors, etc. At the same time, it is required to evaluate and analyze these cushioning materials for cushioning properties based on impact and vibration, in order to make an efficiency on the overall packaging system because they are generally being used by a random choice regardless of the properties of contents and cushioning materials. Therefore, this study provides analyzed data on cushioning properties of various cushioning materials against impact and vibration, and is intended to provide more efficient model for packaging system by minimizing their using amount through choosing an optimal cushioning material as well as intended to lead to the use of nonpollution materials in case these cushioning materials have same cushioning properties.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate current packaging modules and design the most acceptable packaging module for domestic and international distribution systems. An optimum packaging module can reduce package costs as well as total distribution costs such as transport, materials handling and warehouse costs. Three different sizes of packaging modules, namely U-type(600 × 500 mm), K -ype(550 × 366 mm) and I-type(600 × 400 mm), were evaluated in terms of the area efficiency and MOEs(measures of effectiveness) for the T-11(1100 ×1100mm ) and T-12(1,200 × 1,000 mm) pallets. The results showed that the U-type module could fit very well for both pallets and the area efficiency of each module was more than 99 percents. Area efficiency of K-and I-type modules was greatly affected by the pallet footprint dimensions. U-type module also performed better result from MOEs evaluation. Twenty sub-multiple sizes derived from the U-type module were suggested for the future development of the Korean and ISO standards on dimension of transport packages.

Current status on consumption and packaging of sweet persimmons in USA was surveyed by visiting the market, and three sea shipments were conducted as model export trial from Korean to USA with measurement in ship container temperature and fruit quality. Strategy to promote the export of Korean persimmons was derived. There have been gradual decrease in the price of persimmons due to their increases production, but there seems potential growth in consumption of the fruits from Asian, Hispanic and American people. Compared to the fruits from other countries, Korean persimmons are desired to have higher soluble solid content with stronger red color, but too large sizes are not favored in American market. There has often been temperature fluctuation in shipment container during the sea transport to USA, resulting in surface blackening, skin black spotting and flesh softening. Plastic bag packages with inappropriate unitizing crimping were found to sometimes build up unproper modified atmosphere (high O2 and low CO2) giving high rate of physiological injury.

It is now widely recognized that the disposal of packaging waste is an increasing environmental concern. Recent interest in polymer waste management of packaging materials has added incentive to the research. Poly(vinyl alcohol) is a readily biodegradable water-soluble polymer. However, this polymer cannot be processed by conventional extrusion technologies because the melting point of PVA is close to its decomposition temperature. Therefore, PVA films have been mostly prepared by solvent casting from water. Applications of PVA include sizing, binders, fibers, and films for agricultural chemicals and hospital laundry bags. A better understanding of PVA films, which also play important roles in the degradation of plastics, will expand the usage of PVA. Composite films based on PVA generally exhibit better mechanical and thermal properties than pure PVA. The aim of this review article is to review types, formation, and properties of PVA films and PVA based composite films used in packaging related researches.