This work investigated the effects of manufacturing variations, including coil resistance and initial pod mass, on coil lifetime and aerosol generation of Vuse ALTO pods. Random samples of pods were used until failure (where e-liquid was consumed, and coil resistance increased to high value indicating a coil break). Initial coil resistance, initial pod mass, and e-liquid net mass ranged between 0.89 to 1.14 [Ω], 6.48 to 6.61 [g], and 1.88 to 2.00 [g] respectively. Coil lifetime was µ (mean) = 158, σ (standard deviation) = 21.5 puffs. Total mass of e-liquid consumed until coil failure was µ = 1.93, σ = 0.035 [g]. TPM yield per puff of all test pods for the first session (brand new pods) was µ = 0.0123, σ = 0.0003 [g]. Coil lifetime and TPM yield per puff were not correlated with either variation in initial coil resistance or variation in initial pod mass. The absence of e-liquid in the pod is an important factor in causing coil failure. Small bits of the degraded coil could be potentially introduced to the aerosol. This work suggests that further work is required to investigate the effect of e-liquid composition on coil lifetime and TPM yield per puff.
Keywords: aerosol generation; coil resistance; e-liquid; e‑cigarette; manufacturing variation.