ABSTRACT
I. Introduction 564
II. Brief History 566
III. The Manufacturing Process 567 A. Flexographic Printing of Corrugated Board 569
IV. The Structure of Corrugated Board 570
V. Characterization of Corrugated Board 571 A. Flute Geometry 571 B. Linerboard and Medium Grammage 572 C. Linerboard and Medium Furnish 573 D. Number of Layers 574
VI. Developments in Corrugated Board 574 A. Mini-Flutes 574 B. X-Flute 574 C. Laminated Medium 576
VII. Rationale for Reviewing Test Procedures 576 A. Standard Methods 578 B. Equipment for Testing 579 C. Nomenclature 579
VIII. Testing of Box Performance 579 A. Some Notes on Box Construction 579 B. Box Compression Resistance 582 C. Box Compression Resistance Under Static Loading-Creep 589 D. Effect of Environmental Conditions on Box Creep 592
E. Drop Testing of Boxes 594 F. Other Impact Tests for Boxes 595 G. Note on Cushion Theory 596 H. Other Box Tests 596
IX. Modeling the Corrugated Box 597 A. Empirical and Semiempirical Models 597 B. The McKee Model 599 C. Mechanistic Models 602 D. Comments-Box Models 602
X. Corrugated Board Testing 603 A. Physical Characteristics 603 B. Mechanical Properties 612 C. Structural Integrity 642
XI. Component Properties That Affect Corrugated Board Performance 645 A. Creep Testing of Corrugated Components 649
XII. Closing Remarks 650 A. The Service Environment 650 B. High Performance Components 651 C. Recycled Components 651
References 652
I. INTRODUCTION
Corrugated board can be defined as “the structure formed by gluing one or more layers of fluted corrugating medium to one or more flat facings of linerboard” [45] (see Fig. 1). It has been used as a packaging material for more than 100 years, but it still maintains a healthy share of the total market despite increasing competition from plastics, in particular returnable plastic containers (RPCs). One reason for the continued demand for corrugated board packaging is its unique combination of attributes:
• It has a high stiffness-to-weight ratio. Compared to other rigid packaging materials, corrugated board delivers relatively high stiffness at a relatively low price. This was demonstrated by Steenberg et al. [163] in 1970, and the comparisons are still broadly valid (Fig. 2).
