Blister Packaging, Blister Pack, Pharmaceutical Blister Packaging

September 23 2010-Any product that is enclosed in blister packaging is visible as it is transparent. Another feature for recognizing blister packaging is that if the packaging of the product you have purchased has to be opened up with scissor or knife then for most of the time it is blister packaging. Opening it may be hard for consumer, but actually it is a very safe and secure form packaging. Moreover blister packaging is also cost effective.

In blister packaging, the product is encased in a small cavity made from hard plastic. Pharma industry is one such sector where this packaging is extensively used for packing the tablets and medicines.

Every pharma blister pack has two main components i.e.

Cavity or pocket
Lid

The cavity is made from the plastic or aluminium and for making lid the same material as that of cavity or paper and paperboard is used. The cavities formed are called blister strip, blister pack or blister card. In some countries it is also known as Push-Through-Pack (PTP).

Uses of Blister Packaging

Unit Dose Blister Packaging

Pharmaceutical tablets packed in this packaging are known as unit-dose packaging. In USA, the physicians' sample drug products are packed in blister packs. It is also used for the items where repacking is not required. An advantage over other types of packaging is that it ensures the consumption of each dosage. The pharma packaging of this kind of push through packing.

Carded Blister Packaging

Apart from pharmaceutical, it is also used to pack many other products including hardware, electronics and toys. This type of blister packaging consists of flat paperboard card and hard pre-formed plastic made generally from PVC. The cover is transparent so the product is easily examined it to make buying decision. The color and design of the card depends upon the product inside it.

Clamshell Blister Packaging

This type of packaging is used for electronic goods to avoid the stealing of the costly yet small items. In this type of blister packaging, generally two plastic sheets are folded over each other and for proper closing the edges are fused.

Medical Blister Packaging

Medical blister trays are not push through packing like pharma packaging. The base is formed of a very hard plastic sheet with peel open lid that is kept porous for sterilization. Know more on medical packaging.

Material Used for Blister Pack

PVC is the most common of all the materials that are used for making this pack. The PVC used for making blister packaging does not contain plasticizer or rigid PVC or RPVC. Depending upon the size and shape of the cavity, the thickness of PVC sheet is kept between 200µ to 300µ so that it does not collapse while pushing through the cavity.

Then there is Polychlorotrifluoro ethylene or PCTFE used as barrier for moisture. For pharmaceutical products it is 250µ PVC film laminated to 15µ-100µ PCTFE film.