There are many laboratory facilities out there, though very few of them have any practical experience in diaper manufacturing; even fewer know anything about diaper design; and none are dedicated exclusively to the testing of absorbent hygienic products. We are now offering our professional laboratory services, specialized in diaper testing, adult and baby. Our lab analysis will allow you to have an objective evaluation of the quality and performance of your diaper samples. We have more than 27 years of experience and are truly experts in our field. We know exactly what is important to test in a diaper. We also have the know how to give you suggestions or recommendations that will help you improve your diaper’s performance and overall diaper design. If you make disposable diapers or buy them as a distributor or a trader for resale, this service is exactly what you need.
Our lab is equipped with a high power CCL microscope, capable of taking high definition photos at 1600X zoom. We also have a state-of-the-art Chatillón TMS200SS for digital force measurements of retentive capacity under dynamic loads, and peel and shear closure system forces. We recently purchased a digital laboratory oven for diaper ageing tests. We added a new integrity pad tester in December 2005.
Information from the test results is presented in tabular form and in Power Point format, to help you make your own presentations at your factory or to your sales people. You may want to do only the first group of tests (the basic diaper tests); that should give you a good general idea regarding market bench marking. You may also want to do the advanced tests when you want to understand, in much better detail, why a diaper is better or worse than the rest. The advanced tests also provide more insight regarding the design of the diaper and provides ideas for future research and development work.
We are confident you will like our reports; please let us know if you are interested in a sample report. We are currently doing diaper tests for clients located all over the world. These are the locations of some of our clients: South Africa, South America, Middle East, Asia, Europe and North America. Sending diapers from any part of the world takes from 1 to 3 days, using an express service; you will have a complete diaper report a few days later. Let me know if you are interested in our professional laboratory services so I can send you a formal quotation; you may be eligible for a discount with volume orders or repetitively scheduled tests.
Basic Diaper Performance tests (minimum of 25 randomly selected diapers per brand):
1- Total Capacity test.
2- 1st Re-wet and 2nd Re-wet tests (100 ml saline or as specified).
3- 3rd Re-wet test when diaper capacity allows for it (2nd Re-wet must be below 4.0 ml).
4- 1st S.T. time and 2nd S.T. time.
5- 3rd S.T. time only when diaper capacity allows it.
7- Dimensional analysis (Main components, micro photography).
8- Target area density and hard spots detection.
9- Leg cuff surfactant migration test (testing the seal of the leg cuff).
10- Personal observations looking for comparative weaknesses and individual strengths.
US $150 per diaper brand for all tests (all diapers same size).
Advanced Diaper Tests (minimum of 25 random diapers required):
1- SAP and PULP distribution within the sample.
2- Pad Integrity test, to detect diaper resistance to crumble.
3- Dimensional analysis. All sub components used in the diaper.
4- Pin Hole test under 2 different pressures.
5- Coefficient of Friction to detect potential stacker problems.
6- Total capacity symmetry analysis with an explanation of findings.
7- Total retentive capacity under two different pressures.
8- Static Peel force for lateral tapes (adhesive or Velcro).
9- Oven diaper test at 60o C for construction adhesives.
10- Additional observations for comparative performance.
US $250 per diaper brand for all tests (all diapers same size and includes all basic tests).
How to prepare a representative sample for shipping to the Lab?
In order to have a statistically representative sample of a diaper brand to send to our lab, it is important to avoid selecting all diapers from the same bag or even from the same box or production shift. Diapers are made on a high speed continuous process, and sometimes there could be a peak or valley in quality, specially when dealing with small diaper factories that may not have very tight process controls. Unfortunately if this happens, all diapers in the bag typically will share the same quality issue, for better or for worse. To avoid this common problem, it is recommended to purchase small count bags from different stores; this is the only way to make sure you will have a truly representative sample of the market you want to evaluate. If you are going to send us a bag with 30 diapers, then take 5 or 6 diapers from each individual bag and repack them in a new bag to ship to Mexico. Once the samples arrive, we will typically take a week or so to finish all of the tests and send you the results and a Power Point report via Email. We can also send you a hard copy on request.
