What quality problems can happen to aluminum collapsible tubes? How to test whether the aluminum tube meets the requirements? How do know the collapsible tube meets the quality standards in the inspection or not? If you search these questions, you may find the answer from this article. It was written by Buddy peng who was involved in aluminum packaging tubes for 15 years. It would be availability for you.

Subject: Criteria for inspecting the quality of aluminum collapsible tube

 As a very important packaging material, the Aluminum tube is favored by many pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry factories. But how to test whether the aluminum tube is qualified or not? What kind of problems may be encountered in the sample stage, production stage and use stage? Today we will discuss these. If the quality of the finished aluminum tube does not meet the requirements, it will lead to serious consequences. The Collapsible Aluminum tube is suitable for the AQL inspection method. Of course, the quality problems will be judged by the grade.

 The following are a few very important issues that are found to be major defects during the inspection process.

 1. Confusion between products (including products of different specifications, different names of products mixed batch)

2. Material and description does not match

3. No end latex ( when the aluminum tube need end latex )

4. Printing is wrong, or it doesn’t print completely, lack of printing phenomenon

5. Printed color, text or location inconsistent with the requirements

6. Printing coating is not firm

7. No internal lacquer

8. There are foreign objects in the aluminum tube

9. There is powder, oil, grease or other impurities and other contaminants on the aluminum tube

10. Metal particles or debris inside the aluminum packaging tube

11. The outer diameter or inner diameter or length is wrong.

Next, we will analyze one by one, some problems can’t happen but we still list as some factories had that problem.

Product confusion

(including different sizes of products, different names of products mixed batch)

Product confusion is one of the most common problems encountered in the product stage. The main reasons are as follows.

1. Bad production procedure, factories do not comply with the production process or workers do not follow the process.

 2. Secondary storage, confusion caused by the transportation process.

This is often caused by the carelessness of employees and lack of supervision or testing methods, which is a completely low-level mistake but a mistake that should not be made at all.

 The material does not match the description

This is a common mistake and one that is easily overlooked and can cause significant damage to the product. It is often seen that the name of the material used to package the product on the equipment or on the recipe document does not match the actual material used in production. It is this human error that leads to serious consequences.

 For example, for aluminum tube material, Beauty Sky Packaging (Shenzhen )Co., Ltd uses the best aluminum ingots for the domestic market in China, mainly with Noven’s aluminum ingots imported from Austria. But many factories use unknown domestic aluminum materials, the consequence of this is that the material is not qualified, resulting in aluminum tubes that may have trachoma, perforation, and causing very great damage to the product.

 For example, the plastic cap for aluminum tubes, we Beauty Sky packaging use the caps which made from well-known brand new PP, HDPE and other materials. But there may be some factories mixed with some recycled material, which isn’t environmental.

The factory doesn’t produce based on required specifications, like wrong outer diameter, length, wall thickness, wrong hardness. All features of that packaging tube must be the same as the customer’s requirements.

No end latex

( request end latex of aluminium tube)

This problem is relatively simple, mainly because the factory order management & production process is not standardized, or no clear communication with customers cause whole lots don’t comply. This may make some tubes are not good enough to seal the tail of the soft tubes. Of course, many customers also choose products without end latex.

Printing is wrong,

There are misplaced, or it doesn’t print completely, lack of printing phenomenon

In the production process found that the aluminum tube has printed incomplete, the wrong position of printing, the first thing is to check was whether the printed panel made by artwork with customer requirements. If it is not consistent, you need to stop immediately to redo the stencil to avoid more losses.

 If the stencil is fine, but the production process is found to be unclear or completely missing printing, wrong position, printing interruptions, etc., you must stop and check the machine and re-adjust the printing process.

If the problem is found in the final inspection, it must re-produce a new batch.

Aluminum tubes with such problems appear on the market and may damage the customer’s brand.

 Printing coating is not firm

The printed text on the aluminum tube is not firm, and the text is blurred or falls off when it is touched by hand or other things. This is because the product is not annealed enough after printing, and the printing is not firm.

 No internal lacquer

This is very simple, the customer requested to add internal coating of the product but there is no internal coating. If it is a whole batch of goods, this problem must be re-produced. If it is very few tubes, it is possible that some products are missed in the process of internal coating, so all of them must be checked and picked out. Because the product does not have internal coating may make the filler and aluminum tube chemical interaction, serious harm to the product. The customer can’t find it in the filling process.

For hair color cream packaging tubes, it will be a big problem if there isn’t internal lacquer, as hair dye requests packaging tubes with high corrosion resistance. The hair dye may have chemical action with the aluminum tube.

 Foreign objects in the aluminum flexible tube

If one day, someone in the use of hand cream, hair dye or other cosmetic cream found a mosquito inside, what is the feeling of everyone, is not very disgusting, never dare to use this brand of products again?

 So a foreign object in a packaging aluminum tube would be a horrible, horrible thing!

 There are some causes that may cause this big problem

1. If the aluminum tubes are produced in a worse production environment, there may be foreign bodies. The most dangerous is the summer rainy days there is a kind of insects around the lamp, the number is extremely large, love the light and warmth lamp, they are very easy to die and easy to fall into the aluminum tube. There are also mosquitoes, flies, is also relatively easy to fall in the empty aluminum tube.

So how important is the production environment, and the aluminum tubes from Beauty Sky packaging are all produced in a clean and dust-free workshop, can completely eliminate such phenomena, the production of compliant and qualified products is our basic principle.

2. The packaging process is not standardized, not getting rid of the debris in the carton, too sloppy may also drop the carton debris into the aluminum tube.

3. Storage products are not in compliance, not immediately after the production of the box or to protect, some insects and small animals may be buried in the aluminum tube.

4. If the workers don’t wear hats when they are working, maybe their hairs fall into the products too.

5. Some metal debris may also get into the aluminum tube during the production process. Especially for aluminum collapsible tubes with open mouths, the debris left behind after cutting the mouth of the aluminum tubing may stick to the nozzle or fall into the tube.

Contaminants such as powder, oil, grease or other impurities

During the production process, it is very easy to have grease (printing pigment, inner pigment, bottom pigment, etc.) contaminate the tube body, if QC inspection is not careful, or the quality control requirements are loose, it is likely to make this packaging tube with oil on tubes’ surface. Especially some oil finishing varnish empty aluminum tubes are very obvious. The skin care companies are very strict about the appearance of the packaging tubes, they are very afraid of damaging their brand.

Of course, some oil powder that does not affect the appearance can not be completely avoided and picked out.

The end of the product tube has a serious flying edge, gaps, burr, etc.

This is very common in the production process is also very difficult to avoid. If it is a serious flying edge notch phenomenon, which is the impact on the product, may hurt the hands, may also cause the product can not seal the end, or make the filler flow out, which will also bring big trouble to the filling factory.

 The above problems may occur in the production process, but the factory can avoid or standardize the operation and make the problem zero. Select and sort unqualified squeeze aluminum tubes out.

However, aluminum tube is a kind of product with low unit price, large quantity, and large production capacity, one production line can produce 80,000 to 100,000 tubes a day, so some problems can not be completely avoided in the production process. Even if the quality requirements are high, the company can not achieve 100 %, such as the following problems.

1. Deformation of the thread makes it impossible to screw on the cap

2. The end of the product has flying edges, gaps, burrs, etc.

3. Too little or too much internal coating or containing hazardous components

4. No screw cap

5. The tube body is deformed, perforated or damaged, making it impossible to do filling

6. Damaged plastic cap

7. Uneven coating (bottom coating or outer printing)

8. Uneven end latex, too little or too much

9. Deformation of the thread makes it impossible to screw on the cap

10. Leakage

Nowadays, many aluminum collapsible tubes are automatically capped by machine, if the production of a very small part of the thread stamping did not punch well, it may not match with the screw cap, the cap is easy to fall off or can not be screwed. This can be clearly seen and picked out in the last packing step.

The flexible aluminum tube has the flying edge, gap, burr, and other phenomena at the end of the tube

This is very common in the production process and difficult to avoid. If it is a slight phenomenon of flying edge notch at end of the aluminium collapsible tube, it will not cause big problems to do filling.

Too little or too much internal lacquer or harmful ingredients

The quality of the inner coating is very important because it is in direct contact with the cream/ointment/food, if the quality is not good, there will be harmful ingredients that will be very troublesome, especially for food-grade products, the internal lacquer must be food-grade. Food packaging tubes request different internal lacquer from the aluminum cosmetic tubes.

Then if there is too much or too little lacquer? Of course, the same will affect whether the aluminum tube will have a chemical reaction with the product.

No plastic Cap on aluminum collapsible tube

Automatic capping machines may have problems, it may miss one or two tubes without a cap sometimes. Because this error is so obvious, it can usually be detected and corrected during the packaging process. But this problem is very rare.

This problem is caused by hand most of the time, sometimes, the caps need to be assembled by workers, they may be careless to bring this problem.

Tube deformation, perforation, or damage, resulting in failure to fill

An aluminum tube is a product that can be easily deformed because the shapes are cylindrical, it is hollow, and lightweight, and the wall thickness is not thick. So it is easy to be deformed in the wrong packing method and delivery way. However, if it is severely deformed or perforated, or damaged, it cannot be filled and must be picked out before filling.

 Cap damage

If the cap itself has quality problems, but QC did not see, that automatically on the cap may also cause errors, the damaged cap screwed on the aluminum tube, the error is not always found.

So the use of qualified suppliers to produce caps is particularly important. Most of the caps from Beauty Sky packaging are almost from a manufacturer which has been professional in producing caps for the aluminum tube factories for 20 years. Quality is particularly controllable, hundreds of styles of caps, the material is all new plastic.

 Uneven coating (bottom coating or external lacquer)

Uneven coating affects the appearance, and this problem needs to be avoided as much as possible.

 Uneven end latex (darex), too little or too much

End latex (darex) is uneven, too much or too little may affect the sealing, try to pay attention to it.

Leakage

If the aluminum tube is open mouth, the aluminum tube leaks, this is also an unqualified product, it will a big problem, all caps need be re-assembled.

The above problems do not affect the end product, and cannot be avoided but still can be reduced by standardizing the process. The above are major disadvantages.

 And some of the following problems can not be avoided, more or less, there will be some problems in the inspection process is a small defects, they can be accepted at a reasonable proportion under AQL standard.

 1. Color difference

2. Printing on small bubbles, spots, reprints, minor defects, but does not affect the reading

3. Printing height shift little

4. Color spots on the cap, dross, foreign objects, etc.

5. The width of the tail glue is not consistent with the requirements

6. Undercoating too little

7. Cap and mouth thread not quite match (cap easy to loosen)

8. The thread of the pipe mouth is not consistent with the requirements (top shoulder), resulting in the distance between the cap and the shoulder of the pipe is too high.

9. The surface of the aluminum tube has slight deformation, but does not affect the use;

10. Storage, packaging identification card inconsistency but does not affect the use of materials

 The above problems will not cause trouble to the final product and filling process and do not affect the use, but we try to reduce the number of problems.

About the color of the printing, it is offset printing, because of color mixing staff, the temperature of the oven and the final color will always have some differences, even the same ink, set the same temperature but produced in different production lines, the product may also have color differences. Generally, if the color can achieve more than 95% similar, it is treated to qualified products, but the same batch needs the same color.

If there is a grain of dust dropped on the aluminum tube during printing, it may be blistered, there are spots, etc..

The printing position has a slight offset and some minor defects but does not affect the reading is acceptable.

 The cap and the thread of the aluminum tube is a little uncoordinated, easier to loosen but will not leak after filling, if the tube is sealed tip can be acceptable for a small proportion of such products

 Some customers have requirements for the width of the end latex, in the actual production process there can not do exactly the same, the width will have a little error, the distance from the end of the aluminum tube may also have some tolerance too. So if it does not affect the filling, it can be also acceptable.

 Few cosmetic tube customers have requirements for the height from the cap to the shoulder of the aluminum tube, so the height of threads needs to be made as required, but if the customer does not require it, it is acceptable anyway.

 There are some harmless foreign objects outside the tube or in the packing box, mainly the crumbs of the carton. QC should be noted, but in case there is a little bit of small proportion is also acceptable, of course, this problem can be avoided as long as the plastic bag is used.

 The surface of the aluminum tube has a slight deformation, but does not affect the filling, in the filling process it will be recoverable, such a problem is difficult to avoid because of the transport, more or less some problems. Of course, Beauty Sky Packaging uses the strongest paper carton to avoid the problem.

 Due to the carelessness of workers, there may be some omissions in the packaging identification notice, but does not affect the use of these are small problems, but we should avoid to do not happen so stupid mistakes as well.

 The above are the quality problems we will encounter in the production or use of aluminum tubes, we will try our best to avoid the problem, if a major problem happened does not meet customer requirements, we promise and guarantee we will produce another batch of the same goods exactly for free. Customers can rest assured that our services, we do expect to establish long-term cooperation with customers. Also, we must protect clients’ registered trademarks, all printed artwork and squeeze aluminum tubes are kept confidential.

Happy you read this article and you may be interested in this packaging tube.

Please access the product page of our website to find more specifications for packaging aluminum tubes. We will give you special offers based on your requirements and support you all the time.