Do the temperature/humidity sequences in ISTA procedures include ramp times?
The temperature and humidity conditioning times specified in ISTA Procedures and Projects are dwell times at the specified conditions, and do not include any time which may be required to transition from one condition to another (ramp times). Some ISTA Procedures (i.e. ISTA Procedure 7D) specify the transition times, and those should be followed.
In certain situations longer temperature and humidity conditioning dwell times may be required. There are packaged-product configurations which may equilibrate extremely slowly with their surrounding atmosphere. For example, hot-filled containers in the interior of dense unitized loads may require a week or more to reach room temperature. If necessary, make measurements or calculations and extend the conditioning times accordingly.
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