What Are Corrugated Boxes and How Do They Work?

 Corrugated Packaging's Various Applications and Types

What are corrugated boxes, and how do you use them? If you haven't heard about the world's greatest packing choice, you've come to the correct spot. Continue reading to discover more about corrugated boxes, as well as the purposes and varieties of corrugated packaging.

Corrugated vs. Cardboard

A cardboard box is constructed of strong paper-pulp or thick paper stock. This material is being used to manufacture a number of things, including tiny boxes, product packaging, and even structural support for less rigid objects like note books, inserts that protect button-up shirts from losing their form, and more.

Instead of a single sheet of cardboard, corrugated cartons are made up of many layers of material. An interior liner, an outer liner and a fluted medium between the 2 layers of corrugated, make the three layers. Corrugated is a durable and lightweight material, which is crucial for people who deliver a lot of products.

The Corrugated Box Manufacturing Process

To comprehend what corrugated boxes are, you must first comprehend how they are manufactured. Corrugated packaging is the most recycled packaging material on the globe, as it is made mostly from trees, which are a renewable resource. It's made from recycled corrugated boxes and trees.

Old corrugated containers (OCC) are dumped down, sorted, compressed, and baled for space-saving storage when corrugated is repurposed. These bales are then sent to a paper mill, in which the corrugated is broken down and placed into a repulper that is like to a huge mixer.

They're stirred in the repulper to make a slush pulp of fiber and water. The impurities are removed, and the leftover fiber mixture is placed onto a moving screen that drains the water, resulting in a continuous fiber mat. After that, the mat is pushed between rollers to extract any remaining water.

The wet, continuous fiber is looped through a drier, where it comes into contact with hot surface of dry cylinders at the top and bottom, eliminating any leftover water from the paper. After this step is completed, the paper is placed onto a huge reel spool, slit, and rewound into separate rolls, and the recycling process is deemed done. Those paper rolls are sent to sheet feeders or corrugators, where they are turned into corrugated sheets and then converted into environmentally friendly corrugated packaging.

The Fundamentals of Corrugated

Now that you understand the distinctions between corrugated and cardboard, let's look at the fundamentals of corrugated. When creating a corrugated box, there are several variables to consider. This is also why they can be customized so much.

Profiles of Flute

A, B, C, E, and F are the most popular flute sizes today, with A being the biggest. The thicknesses of the walls and the stacking power of your corrugated box are determined by the flute size. An “A” flute is roughly 5 mm thick and is a great choice for goods that need more cushioning or stacking power. The thickness of the board decreases as you progress through the B, C, E, and F flutes, concluding in a narrower board.

Types of Boards

Corrugated boxes may be made from four different types of boards. Single-wall and double-wall boards are the most prevalent. There is also some single-face board, which is created consisting of one sheet of corrugated medium attached to one sheet of liner.

This type of board is generally supplied in rolls and may be used to cover and support goods by wrapping around them. If one sheet of corrugated medium is bonded among two sheets of liner, the result is a single-wall board. The most popular form of board on the marketplace is single-wall, which may be used for anything from shipping boxes to shop displays.

If two sheets of corrugated material are bonded among three sheets of liner, it is known as double-wall. This board is frequently used for larger items or those that require a thicker delivery box.

Finally, triple-wall construction involves gluing three layers of corrugated medium among four sheets of liner. This is the most durable of all the board types, and it is frequently used for industrial products.

Board Grade

Mullen or Edge Crush Test (ECT) corrugated board is a type of corrugated board. The uses of these two types of board are vastly different. The ECT test determines how much stack power or force a box can endure without crushing. If you're planning to stack cartons on top of each other, whether on a pallet or on a storage shelf, ECT board is the best option.