Blister Packaging

Introduction
This article presents a comprehensive guide to blister packaging. Read further to
learn more about:

You will learn:

• Blister packaging and its advantages

• Blister packaging operation
• Components of a blister pack
• Methods of blister foil forming
• And much more…

Custom Thermoformed Packaging

(from Valk Industries, Inc)

Chapter One – What is Blister Packaging?

Blister packaging, or blister packs, are pre-formed packaging materials
composed of a thermoformed plastic cavity and a pliable lid. In this type of
packaging, the product is placed in deep-drawn pockets or cavities resembling a
blister. A backing material or lidding mates to the flat area of the plastic cavity
enclosing the product inside. Bonding the two structures is a heat-seal coating
adhesive. Blister packaging has various types depending on the application. The
most popular use of blister packs is packaging pharmaceutical products such as
pills, tablets, capsules, and lozenges. Because of its low cost, cheap raw
materials, and high operating speed, they are also used for packaging consumer
goods such as foods, electronics, toys, and tools. Enumerated below are the
benefits of using blister packaging.

• Individual Packaging: The first notable use of blister packs is for packaging
birth control pills. Blister packaging is a cheap and convenient way of
packaging individual doses of the drug. Also, the packaging can be marked
aiding effective administration. Individual packaging helps maintain the
quality of the contents through containment in separate cavities or
pockets. Damage to any part of the packaging material will not affect the
whole.

• Maintaining Product Integrity: Forming films and lidding structures are

created according to the sensitivity of the product from moisture, oxygen,
and light. The packaging components can be laminated with barriers that
block the penetration of external elements. Opaque materials such as
aluminum block light preventing product degradation through UV
radiation.
• Tamper Protection: Blister packs when opened cannot be returned to
their original form. Blister packaging has an inherent tamper-evident
mechanism since it is impossible to separate the lidding to the blister card
without causing visible damage. This helps deter package pilferage not
only in pharmaceuticals but also in consumer goods such as electronics.

• Preventing Accidental Drug Misuse: Blisters and lidding structures can be

designed in such a way that it cannot be opened easily without following
the instructions specified by the manufacturer. This prevents children,
and even seniors, from accidentally taking the drug. This design is known
 as child-resistant (CR) packaging.

• Visibility: Blister packs, along with skin and clamshell packaging, are also
used for retail products since it allows consumers to see the product
through the packaging. The lid or backing material is colored and
designed for attracting prospective buyers.

• Minimal Movement Within the Packaging: It is easy for blister packs to take
the shape of the product. The product’s shape can be fed through a
computer-aided machining program that controls a milling machine for
 creating a mold. The mold can be prepared to factor only small clearances
between the product and the packaging.
Contract Packaging

Packaging Services (from Aaron

Thomas Company, Inc)

Since packaging is often not a part of the production process, manufacturing

plants often employ third-party services dedicated to the packaging process.
Contract packaging is a service provided by packaging companies that usually
comprises the supply of labor and equipment for product packaging. Contract
packaging companies invest in sophisticated equipment such as blister
packaging machines that are accredited by regulating bodies. This allows the
manufacturer to focus its manpower and business process solely on production
while getting the benefits of a specialized packaging system. A contract
packaging setup also enables more investment into quality testing of packaging
raw materials that are impractical for manufacturing plants. In broader scopes,
the packaging company is responsible for producing graphic materials and
product manuals, controlling inventory, warehousing, and distribution.

Chapter Two – The Blister Packaging Process

The packaging process starts by designing the packaging format. The
manufacturer fabricates a negative die according to the shape of the product. To
prepare the negative die, a metal stock is milled with an array of cavities using a
CNC machine. The die is then installed into the forming machine.
 Custom Machining Services (from
Valk Industries, Inc)

The forming process can either be thermoforming or cold forming. Plastic films
such as PVC are processed by thermoforming, while laminated aluminum
forming films employ cold forming. For thermoforming machines, a preheating
process is done at temperatures below the plastic's melting point. As the film
moves through the machine, it is formed to shape by air pressure
(thermoforming) or by pressing a positive die (cold forming).

Meanwhile, prior to packaging, the products are visually inspected in a staging

area. For consumer goods, the products are placed manually or automatically
into the pocket. For products with smaller profiles but large volumes such as
medicine tablets, a packaging machine with hopper feeding is used. The
products are loaded into the hopper and then carefully fed into the pockets of
the blister sheets. Brushes and paddles help disperse and arrange the product
through the whole blister card.

The product then moves into the inspection station. Here, an inspector or visual
sensors check any damaged or broken items and marks them for rejection at
the end of the packaging line. After inspection, the sheets are transferred into
the sealing station.

Before sealing, a cylinder with embossed texts or graphics prints on one side of
the lidding before being fed into the machine. The cylinder picks up the ink and
then presses it onto the lidding film. At the sealing station, the lidding film and
the blister sheet meet by pressing them against each other. Heat is applied to re-
activate the sealing resin creating a bond between the two substrates. After
bonding, the sealed blister packs are then transferred into a cooling station
which sets the bond.

The sealed blister sheets are then transferred into a trimming station where
whole blister packs are cut into blister cards. Additional cuts are made by the
machine depending on the intended application such as child-resistant packs.
Afterward, the blister cards pass through a conveyor system where an automatic
rejection system removes flagged items from the packaging line. The conveyor
leads the blister cards through robotic arms that automatically collect and place
them into boxes or larger packs.
Process operators select samples from the packaging line for quality checks.
Packaging quality inspection is usually done for pharmaceutical products. A
simple method is water submersion testing or blue dye testing. This is a leak test
that involves subjecting the blister card to a vacuum for several minutes. Once a
flaw in the sealing or damage on the film is present, a vacuum is created inside
the blister. The blister card is then submerged in the dyed water. The packs are
then removed from the water and manually opened for visual inspection.
Advances in probing and scanning technology allow automated visual
inspections for finished blister packs. The water submersion method is limited
since it does inspect the whole production. Scanning and visual inspection
systems are now able to reliably check each pocket and pinpoint the location of
the cavity with defects.

Leading Blister Packaging Companies

Company Name Location

Valk Industries, Inc. Greeneville, TN

Aaron Thomas Company, Inc. Garden Grove, CA

Assemblers, Inc. Chicago, IL

Sonic Packaging Industries Inc. Westwood, NJ

Western Innovations Denver, CO

CONTACT THESE COMPANIES

Chapter Three – Components of Blister

Packaging
There are four main components involved in blister packaging. These are the
forming film, lidding, heat-seal coating and prints. The forming film and lidding
are the main structural components that account for almost the total weight of
the packaging. The heat seal layer creates a bond between the two structures.
Lastly, the labels, batch numbers, codes, and other important information are
added by printing.
• Forming Film: This is the component formed to create the cavity.
Property, grade, and thickness are the common bases for selecting
forming films. The formed cavity copies the contour of the product with a
slight clearance. This allows small deformations from impact without
damaging the content. The film must have the right grade and thickness
to provide sufficient rigidity into the whole packaging while at the same
time allow convenient opening. Being too rigid makes it hard for the
product to be pressed out of the pocket; while being too flexible allows it
to be easily damaged.

• Backing Material or Lidding: The lidding secures the product into the
cavity. Classifications of lidding structures are divided into Push-Through-
Packs (PTP), peelable lids, or a combination of both. PTPs are designed to
be broken or torn while pressing into the pocket as seen in typical
medicine packaging. Lidding can also be made peelable without
deforming the pocket as seen in most consumer goods packaging. Push-
peel lidding types are specially designed to be opened by performing a
sequence of actions. These proprietary lid types are used for medicines
for seniors and children known as child-resistant blister lidding.
Common lidding materials can be aluminum foil, PET, paper, or a
combination of these materials. Aluminum foil is characterized by its
temper that can be either soft or hard. Soft-tempered aluminum foil is
more malleable and is suitable for packaging hard materials such as
tablets and lozenges. Their malleability allows some amount of
deformation before breaking. Because of this characteristic, soft
aluminum lids are used for child-resistant blister packaging which helps
 prevent children from pushing tablets out of it. Soft aluminum foils used
in blister lidding typically have 1.0 mil thickness.

Hard-tempered aluminum foils do not allow any elongation and can be

torn easily with sufficient force. They are used for lids that are designed to
be pushed through or peeled off. For a single layer, hard aluminum lid
structure, the foil thickness is around 0.8 mils. This type of structure is
used for push-through-packs.

Hard aluminum foils can also be combined with paper and PET to be used
for child-resistant packages that can be pushed through, peeled off, or a
combination of both. A common design features the paper and PET layers
to be first peeled off from the aluminum. The tablet is then pushed
through which tears the aluminum foil.

• Heat-seal Coating: Heat-seal coatings bind the plastic blister pack and the
lidding together. They are molten or liquid polymer resins that are applied
on the surface of the lidding material using roll coaters, knives, gravure,
brush, or sprays. The right amount must be applied to create an air-tight
sealing. After application, the resin is allowed to dry on the surface of the
foil. This resin will then be reactivated once the bonded foil-seal coat film
is used for packaging.
 Conventional characteristics of heat-seal coating resins used for blister
packaging are low-temperature activation, low coefficient of friction, high
gloss, and high transparency. For pharmaceutical and food packaging, the
polymer resin must be approved by the FDA for direct food contact
compliance. General types of heat seal coatings are solvent and water-
based. Examples are polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), acrylic, and ethylene
acrylic acid (EAA). Other types are extrusion coated and co-extruded
polyolefin films. These types of films can be low-density polyethylene
(LDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), and ethylene-vinyl acetate
(EVA).

• Prints: These are added to the lidding structure for providing information
about the product and to attract the attention of buyers. They are usually
applied by flexographic printing. Since these are applied before the heat-
sealing process, they must be able to withstand the heat sealing
 temperatures which can be about 300°C.

Chapter Four – Methods of Foil Forming

There are two main methods used in foil forming: thermoforming and cold
forming. The most common material used in blister packaging is PVC. PVC is
formed by thermoforming which makes the process widely used. For
applications requiring better barrier properties, laminated aluminum is the
better option which is formed by cold forming.

• Thermoforming: Thermoforming is the process of heating thin plastic

sheets to its forming temperature and stretching it over a mold which
takes its shape. This is the most common forming method used for blister
packaging because of its simplicity and high volume.
 Thermoformed Packaging
Products (from Valk Industries, Inc)

This process starts by feeding the plastic sheet into a preheating station
which initially heats to slightly above the plastic’s glass transition
temperature. This makes the plastic soft and malleable without fully
melting it. After heating, the film is transferred into the forming station. A
die presses onto the sheet that imprints the profile of the blister pack.
There are several types of thermoforming processes, but the ones used
for blister pack manufacture are vacuum and pressure forming. In
vacuum forming, the air is evacuated from the cavity that draws the
heated film acquiring the profile of the die. Pressure forming, on the other
hand, pushes the film into the cavity. For instances when the shape is
difficult to form by air pressure alone, a plug-assist feature is used to push
down the film into the die. This results in a more uniform wall thickness.
After the forming process, refrigerated plates then press against the
formed films which set into its new shape. It is then trimmed to size using
a die cutter.
• Cold Forming: This process is commonly used for packaging products that
are sensitive to moisture and light. Instead of using clear plastic films, cold
forming uses thin sheets of polymer-aluminum laminates. Laminated
aluminum has a typical thickness of 1.8 mils of aluminum and 3 mils of
combined polymer layers. With this thickness, it completely eliminates
water permeability. In contrast to the thermoforming process, this type
does not use heat to shape the film. Rather, the film is plastically
deformed by pressing it into the die. Thus, this type of forming is
mechanical which involves a negative tool (die), and a positive tool (plug).
This brings the disadvantage of having another tool making the cold
forming machine more expensive than the thermoforming. Another
drawback is that the film cannot be formed with near 90° angles. There
will always be draft angles that increase the size of the blister. Though the
price per meter of the laminated aluminum is comparable with plastic
films, a given area can only accommodate a smaller number of products.
 This, in turn, increases the material cost.

Leading Blister Packaging Companies

Company Name Location

Valk Industries, Inc. Greeneville, TN

Aaron Thomas Company, Inc. Garden Grove, CA

Assemblers, Inc. Chicago, IL

Sonic Packaging Industries Inc. Westwood, NJ

Western Innovations Denver, CO

CONTACT THESE COMPANIES

Chapter Five – Materials Used in Manufacturing

Blister Packs
There are various materials used in blister packaging. PVC is the most suitable
because of its low cost and ease of forming. However, there are moves to
replace PVC due to its negative effects on the environment. Polymers containing
chlorine and fluorine elements can discharge harmful acids to the atmosphere
and are now being regulated in developed countries. Materials used for blister
pack manufacturing are listed below.

• Polyvinyl Chloride or PVC: This is the most widely used material for blister
packaging due to its low cost and ease of forming. PVC dominates around
95% of the blister packaging market. The PVC forming film is rigid because
of the absence of any plasticizers or softening agents. Due to its
toughness and clarity, it is ideal for protecting goods while adding value
by allowing prospective buyers to see the product. Moreover, PVC films
have good barrier characteristics and chemical resistance. The typical
thickness of the forming film is in the range of 0.2 to 0.3 millimeters. An
important thing to note for using rigid PVC, however, is its tendency to
degrade at high temperatures, known as dehydrochlorination, and
produce hydrogen chloride. Since heating is an integral operation in PVC
film forming processes, stabilizers are added to withstand the thermal
and shear conditions throughout the process. Stabilizers must be FDA
approved for food contact applications.

Transparent Packaging (from Valk Industries, Inc)

• Polyvinylidene Chloride (PVDC): PVDC, though not a forming film material
in itself, is applied to other substrates such as PVC and aluminum to
impart better barrier properties by a factor of five to ten. PVDC coatings
are one of the few compounds that can provide both moisture and
oxygen barriers. Other desirable characteristics of PVDC are heat-
sealability, high gloss, transparency, and flexibility. These are applied not
only to the forming film but also to the lidding structure as well. PVDC is
applied on the surface in contact with the product. Like PVC, it can also
undergo thermally induced dehydrochlorination which poses threats to
the environment.
• Polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE): This compound belongs to a family
of polymers called fluoropolymers. Polychlorotrifluoroethylene is
popularly known as Aclar film, a trade name from Honeywell. Like PVDC,
PCTFE is laminated to PVC to enhance its barrier properties. PCTFE allows
an extremely low transmission of moisture and gases, has inertness to
strong chemicals and can resist external degrading factors such as UV
light and ozone. In itself, it is not particularly strong or tough, but it has
high abrasion resistance. Its other notable physical properties are
transparency and better thermal stability. Aclar film is widely used in
military, electronic, and aerospace applications. Its laminates are designed
to perform in oxygen-rich environments for packaging items in liquid
nitrogen. In pharmaceuticals, Aclar laminates are suited for aseptic blister
packs since they can be sterilizable by heat.
• Polypropylene (PP): Polypropylene emerges as an alternative forming film
to PVC. Its water vapor permeability is comparable to PVDC-coated PVC. It
is preferred in some regulated regions since it does not produce harmful
chemicals when incinerated. Also, it can easily be recycled than PVC. Its
main disadvantage is the difficulty of processing. PP cannot be readily fed
to a standard blister packing machine. The range of operating
temperatures for thermoforming PP is very narrow and must be
controlled precisely. Warping and post-processing shrinkage can occur
which decreases the quality of packaging.

• Polyethylene (PET): Another candidate to replace PVC is PET. Polyethylene

is used for packaging food and consumer goods but is less often for
blister packaging of medicines. This is because PET has a higher water
vapor permeability than PVC. It can be solved by adding a layer of PVDC
but it defeats the purpose of preventing the release of harmful gases.
 • Cyclic Olefin Copolymers (COC): COC is a family of fully amorphous
polymer resins that are desired because of its comparable properties with
PVC without the negative effects. COCs that have a multilayer structure
are best suited for blister packaging because of its low water vapor
permeability. The properties of a COC film can be altered by developing
specific blends of polyolefins. Some of the properties that can be modified
are its elasticity, transparency, vapor transmission rate, and coefficient of
friction.

• Laminated Aluminum Foil: This type is a combination of aluminum, PVC,

and polyamide or polyester films. Laminated aluminum films are cold-
formed. They completely eliminate water-vapor permeability which makes
them suitable for medicines with long storage life. It also provides
complete protection from light and oxygen.
Conclusion
• Blister packaging, or blister packs, are pre-formed packaging materials
composed of a thermoformed plastic cavity and a pliable lid. In this type
of packaging, the product is placed in deep-drawn pockets or cavities that
resemble a blister.
• Blister packaging offers the following benefits: individual packaging,
maintaining product integrity, tamper protection, preventing accidental
drug misuse, visibility, and allowing minimal movement within the
packaging.
• Contract packaging is the process of outsourcing the packaging process to
specialized service providers. This enables the manufacturer to focus on
its operation and business process.
• There are four main components involved in blister packaging. These are
the forming film, lidding, heat-seal coating and prints.
• There are two main methods used in foil forming: thermoforming and
cold forming. Thermoforming is used for polymer-based materials, while
cold forming is for laminated aluminum.
• PVC is the main material used for blister packaging. however, it is now
being replaced due to its negative effects on the environment.