Adequate protection of products during transport is essential for
preventing damage, and its design relies on understanding the cushioning
properties of packaging materials. Growing online shopping has
increased the use of transport packaging, making knowledge of
material cushioning properties even more important. In this thesis
we designed and built an automated device for performing drop tests
according to the ASTM D1596 standard, which we used to determine the
cushioning curves of expanded polystyrene and honeycomb paperboard.
The device is based on linear guides, a linear module with a
stepper motor, a linear actuator with a fail-secure release
mechanism and a piezoelectric accelerometer. Control and data
processing are carried out by a Raspberry Pi 5 computer. The results
confirmed better cushioning properties of expanded polystyrene,
which achieved lower accelerations and more stable cushioning under
repeated impacts, whereas the cushioning performance of honeycomb
paperboard degraded quickly with successive impacts. The device
proved reliable and repeatable.
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