Clean Room Packaging: A Key to Avoiding Contamination and Ensuring Product Quality

Today’s market is an ever-changing space where product quality is what matters the most. To ensure the utmost quality of the product, a company must provide a safe, contaminant-free indoor area for its manufacturing. However, the story doesn’t end here. What manufacturers must do is protect the product once it leaves the controlled environment – the cleanroom.

One of the most efficient ways to keep your product safe from unwanted pollutants and impurities involves using ISO-certified clean room packaging. The right choice of packaging materials is of vital importance to prevent potential product failure and make sure you’re offering quality to your customers.

Adequate cleanroom packaging is required in industries such as aerospace, life sciences, medical and pharmaceutical device manufacturing, etc. It comes in different shapes, sizes, and materials, and it’s suitable for storing different pieces of equipment.

It is essential to understand the role cleanroom packaging plays in protecting your product and ensuring no contaminants and pollutants could spoil its quality. Keep scrolling to learn more about the most common clean room packaging types and their role in contamination control.

Industries That Use Clean Room Packaging

Cleanroom packaging is required by the industries such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, hardware, medical device manufacturing, electronics, semiconductor manufacturing, plastics, aerospace, food, etc.

What is Contamination Control?

Contamination control refers to all activities that control the existence, growth, and proliferation of contamination in specific areas. Contamination control may refer to both atmosphere and the surfaces, including particulate matter, microbes, contamination prevention, and decontamination.

Contamination control activities aim to ensure an adequate level of cleanliness in controlled environments. It is achieved by maintaining, eradicating, or reducing contamination for sanitary purposes or maintaining an efficient production rate.

One of the areas that incorporate contamination control is the cleanroom. Contamination control within a cleanroom includes various preventive measures, including strict clothing regulations, cleaning procedures, air filtration systems, and packaging.

Contamination control is of vital importance for laboratories and other sensitive areas, such as the pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors. It is also prevalent in the automotive industry, computer component manufacturing, industrial kitchen areas, etc.

The Most Common Clean Room Packaging Types

Clean room packaging is available in different materials and forms convenient for various industries and their needs. Some of the most common features to look for in the cleanroom packaging include:

• Density
• Temperature resistance
• Puncture resistance
• Zipper
• Moisture barrier
• Strength and clarity
• Material (nylon, anti-static nylon, polyethylene, etc.)
• Form (tubing, foil, bag)
• ISO certification.

Depending on your product specifications and your industry’s needs, you can choose some of the following clean room packaging types and ensure the utmost product quality.

Clean Room Packaging Supplies: Cleanroom Bags

Cleanroom bags are the number one choice when it comes to cleanroom packaging. They come in a variety of materials and designs, including LDPE, HDPE, nylon, anti-static, gusseted, ziplock, and more.

1.      Polyethylene Cleanroom Bags

Polyethylene (poly) is one of the most commonly used plastics in cleanroom bag manufacturing. The density of this plastic plays a vital role in your choice, and it depends on the particular purpose. Low-density polyethylene and high-density polyethylene are materials of choice when it comes to packaging in a controlled environment, and they are suitable for different purposes.

High-Density Poly Cleanroom Bags (HDPE)

High-density poly cleanroom bags (HDPE) are made of additive-free material that ensures the bags do not stick together. Therefore, they are an excellent choice for packaging the products that could be affected by contact.

HDPE bags have a great temperature resistance, which allows you to pack hot products that have just got off the press without the risk of holes or melting. In addition, its non-scratch and puncture-resistant properties make it an excellent choice for packing optical lenses and similar items.

Aside from these features, HDPE poly bags are incredibly strong and stiff, have impressive moisture retention properties, and can withstand even low temperatures.

Low-Density Poly Cleanroom Bags (LDPE)

Low-density poly cleanroom bags (LDPE) are the most versatile material suitable for different cleanroom purposes. They are clear enough for most applications, and their strength ensures the safe storage of the product. Besides, its moisture retention properties prevent the moisture from affecting the product in the package.

Still, LDPE bags are not as temperature-resistant as HDPE and are not the best choice for freezers or microwaves.

Linear Low-Density Polyethylene Bags (LLDPE)

Linear low-density polyethylene bags (LLDPE) deliver more strength and puncture resistance compared to LDPE bags. They are suitable for various applications, mainly due to their tensile strength and increased durability.

2.      Nylon Cleanroom Bags

Nylon and anti-static nylon are the best heat-sealable plastic films necessary for critical parts. Thanks to their increased oxygen and moisture transmission resistance, nylon cleanroom bags are suitable for packaging electronics, precision components, and pharmaceutical products.

Nylon is commonly used in applications requiring reduced tears and scuffing resulting from friction rubbing. Another advantage of nylon is that it performs extremely well in vacuum applications and remains stable even during and after gamma irradiation.

Other nylon cleanroom bag features include temperature resistance, gas barrier properties, oil and grease resistance, resistance to punctures, wear, and abrasion.

3.      Moisture-Barrier Film

Moisture-barrier film is commonly used for products requiring protection from moisture vapor and oxygen transmission. It consists of the nylon/foil/polyethylene blend, which provides a strong and opaque film with a distinctive foil appearance.

Moisture-barrier film is essential for food, pharmaceutical, aerospace, and other industries that use cleanrooms and must ensure their product quality and prolonged shelf life. Essentially, getting the right barrier film goes beyond product protection. It preserves the quality of your product and makes sure all your effort is not in vain.

It is quintessential to choose a high-quality moisture-barrier film from a proven clean room package supplier. Otherwise, your product may be at risk of premature spoilage or failure that results in substantial losses.

4.      Cleanroom Poly Tubing

Cleanroom poly tubing is a great alternative when individually cut cleanroom poly bags are not suitable for your products. Manufacturers use poly tubing for items that are longer in length or need to pack the same product continuously. Pristine® cleanroom poly tubing is gamma stable, meaning that it is ideal for gamma irradiation sterilization processes.

Poly tubing clean room packaging is excellent for storing sensitive electronics, medical devices, and similar items that require top-notch protection from scratches, contaminants, and damages in general.

5.      Cleanroom Zipper Bags

Cleanroom ziplock bags are a more practical solution as they allow technicians to open it even with the gloves on. That way, you can prevent potential damages caused by blades, scissors, and knives. Pristine Clean Bags® with Easy-Tear formulation feature tear notches on the sides of the bag, allowing you to open the bag more easily, without using sharp objects.

6.      Cleanroom Pouches

Cleanroom pouches are considered a perfect solution for labs and other applications that involve manufacturing bulk products inside the cleanroom. Cleanroom pouches are available in various sizes, can be double-bagged, sealed, custom-tailored, and printed in different colors.

Most cleanroom pouches are often suitable for gamma irradiation, have excellent barrier properties, and meet the requirements of a wide variety of industries.

Cleanroom Packaging Supplies: Cleanroom Tape

Cleanroom tape is another vital part of your cleanroom packaging supplies. Most cleanroom tapes are easy to tear, incredibly adhesive, and can remove quite cleanly. Their common temperature range goes from -20° to 200°F, and you can use them to seal your clean room packaging. There are many different cleanroom tape types on the market, including: