Testing the Use of Coconut Fiber as a Cushioning Material for Transport Packaging

Clívia D. Pinho da Costa Castro, José de Assis Fonseca Faria, Tiago Bassani Hellmeister Dantas

Centre for Packaging Technology-ITAL, Campinas, Brazil.
Faculty of Food Engineering, University of Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, Brazil.

DOI: 10.4236/msa.2012.33023                

Abstract

In spite of being a raw material of virtually unlimited availability due to the massive consumption of the highly popular coconut water, fiber produced from green coconut is much less used than the dried coconut fiber. The objective of this study was to investigate the performance of green (white) coconut fiber as a cushioning material for use in packaging systems. The mechanical performance of both green coconut fibers in their natural state as well as those molded into the shape of cushioning pads were evaluated by shock absorption tests. The results showed that the fibers without agglutination agents exhibited the best performance when submitted to increasing static loads by presenting the greatest capacity to reduce impact acceleration. In addition, green coconut fiber presented behavior similar to that of cellulosic cushioning materials and in certain situations can be considered effective in protecting products that are considered fragile.

Keywords

Coconut Fiber; Impact; Cushioning

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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