No matter how strong, we all have a breaking point. When it comes to your foam packaging, you want that point to be much higher than the weight of your product and the pressure during transit. There are a few key factors that determine at what point your foam will break: two of the most vital are tensile strength and tear strength.
Tensile strength and tear strength both measure the strength of a type of foam, but in different ways.
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Are Tensile Strength and Tear Strength the Same Thing?
They are extremely similar in that they measure the strength of foam - but tensile and tear strength are two different measurements for foam. You’ll find both measurements on a typical foam spec sheet, and both are measured using ASTM D3574 testing standards.
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What is Tensile Strength?
Tensile strength measures how much force a material can withstand before it breaks. This can be pressure applied in several different ways - by pulling, by pushing or by bending.
For foam, tensile strength is measured numerically, to show you how durable a piece of foam is under specific PSIs.
On this spec sheet for example, the tensile strength of this foam is 18 psi.
What is Tear Strength?
Tear strength measures how much force it takes to break a material with an existing tear. In this measurement, the piece of foam has already cracked, ripped or torn. The tear strength measures how much pressure it can take additionally before it breaks. For foam, this is measured by pounds per inch.
On this spec sheet for example, the tear strength of this foam is 2 pounds per square inch.
Why Tensile and Tear Strength are Important for Foam Packaging
When selecting foam for packaging, you want to consider both tensile strength and tear strength. Tensile strength will show you how much pressure the foam can take before it’s unusable, while tear strength will show you how much pressure the foam can withstand if it’s already been damaged. Both are critical for deciding on packaging - for example, if the tear strength of your foam is 2 pounds per square inch but your product exceeds that weight, it’s likely to rip through the tear and break the packaging.
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