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Wine Bottle Cork Pull Test
The Challenge
Cork Supply USA, Inc, supplies more than 100 million corks annually to an expanding United States wine industry. With a reputation as a premium wine cork supplier their process features triple quality assurance, responsive service and consistent cork quality.

Cork industry veteran, Michelle Andres is the quality assurance manager for Cork Supply USA’s Benicia California facility. The quality laboratories are responsible for incoming, inprocess and outgoing quality examinations.

The Test
In additon to protecting the product from leaking during shipment or in storage, wine bottlers want an user-friendly package to open.

Cork Supply USA required a test to measure the tension force required to pull a cork from a wine bottle. Testing the peak tension force would verify the performance they required.

The Solution
Ultimately, the test should document either a detection in the sudden drop in load or the separation of the cork from its bottle.

Mecmesin application specialists from both the factory and the distributor studied the application from a force measurement perspective. The challenge included supplying a complete system with a specialized holding fixture. The joint effort provided the solution.

Although the upper fixture was a corkscrew, similar devices furnished by a customer would also work. The Mecmesin force team recommended a motorized stand to enable a uniform crosshead speed of 300 mm/min. (11.81”/min.) specified by the customer.

Test results obtained were in the region of 210-320N (47-71 lbs.) This range is critical for compliance to the ISO standard (ISO 9727:1991 - E), which was written to cover the Cork Supply USA test procedure. In order to maintain ISO certification a company must document and strictly follow established procedures for consistent results.

Satisfied with the Mecmesin system recommendation, Michelle Andres said, ”The extraction test machine has become a staple in our quality procedure. The Quantol testing stand has proven to be a reliable tool in our lab —accurate, and dependable. DQ+, our Mecmesin distributor provides great customer service.”

The system includes: