ASTM D3103: Standard Test Method for Thermal Insulation Performance of Distribution Packages

Significance: Water can cause the degradation of coatings, so knowledge of how a coating resists water is helpful for assessing how it will perform in actual service. Failure in tests at 100 % relative humidity may be caused by a number of factors including a deficiency in the coating itself, contamination of the substrate, or inadequate surface preparation. This practice is therefore useful for evaluating coatings alone or complete coating systems. Scope: This practice covers the basic principles and operating procedures for testing water resistance of coatings by exposing coated specimens in an atmosphere maintained at 100 % relative humidity so that condensation forms on all surfaces of test specimens. Download Standard

Significance: Products are exposed to complex dynamic stresses in the transportation environment. The determination of the resonant frequencies of the product may aid the packaging designer in determining the proper packaging system to provide adequate protection for the product, as well as providing an understanding of the complex interactions between the components of the product as they relate to expected transportation vibration inputs. Scope: These test methods cover the determination of resonances of unpackaged products and components of unpackaged products by means of vertical linear motion at the surface on which the product is mounted for test. Two alternate test methods are presented: Test Method A—Resonance Search Using Sinusoidal Vibration, and Test Method B—Resonance Search Using Random Vibration. Download Standard

Significance: Many materials from which containers and packages are made, especially cellulosic materials, undergo changes in physical properties as the temperature and the relative humidity (RH) to which they are exposed are varied. Therefore, the package should be placed and kept in a specified atmosphere for a length of time such that subsequent measurements of physical properties will be meaningful and reproducible. Scope: This practice provides for standard and special conditioning and testing atmospheres that may be used to simulate particular field conditions that a container, package, or packaging component may encounter during its life or testing cycle. Download Standard

Significance: The useful life of photovoltaic modules may depend on their ability to withstand repeated temperature cycling with varying amounts of moisture in the air. These test methods provide procedures for simulating the effects of cyclic temperature and humidity environments. An extended duration damp heat procedure is provided to simulate the effects of long-term exposure to high humidity. Scope: These test methods provide procedures for stressing photovoltaic modules in simulated temperature and humidity environments. Environmental testing is used to simulate aging of module materials on an accelerated basis. Download Standard

Significance: This practice provides a method for conditioning packaging systems using climatic conditions that occur in actual distribution. The recommended exposure levels are based on available information on shipping, handling and storage environments, current industry practices, and published studies. They are not absolute extremes, but rather recorded daily averages in cold and hot climates of the world. Scope: This practice provides a uniform basis for evaluating, in a laboratory, the ability of a packaging system to withstand a range of climatic stresses that a packaging system may be exposed to during distribution throughout the world and still provide the product protection from damage or alteration. Download Standard