05-Nov-20

How corrugated boxes are

made?
Presented by
Ramkumar Sunkara
Chairman – R & D Committee
Federation of Corrugated box manufacturers of India.

The Characteristics of Corrugated Board.

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Raw materials
• Raw materials used in manufacturing of corrugated
boxes are:
• Paper
• Adhesive
• Printing Inks
• Stitching wire

Raw Material consumption in %

Paper consumption 95.00%
Starch consumption 3.50%
Stitching Wire Cons. 0.50%
Bundling strap cons. 0.25%
Printing ink 0.75%
Total 100.00%

S. S. Consultants, Pune. www.ramkumarsunkara.com

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Components of conversion
Adhesive cost Labor cost
Electricity cost Staff cost
Fuel cost Admin cost
Ink cost Interest cost
Stitching wire/Glue cost Depreciation cost
Packing cost Repair & Maintenance cost
Transportation cost Profit

S. S. Consultants, Pune. www.ramkumarsunkara.com

Paper
• Corrugated board is made from high strength paper
• High strength paper is called Kraft paper
• Two types of Kraft paper are used.
• Liners and
• Medium
• Liners could be Unbleached kraft, Bleached Kraft, Coated
kraft or coated board
• Liners are classified as Kraft liner, Test liner
• Medium is classified as semi chemical and fluting.

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Adhesives
• Starch based adhesives are used.
• Maize starch and tapioca starch
• Certain resins are added to give special properties like water
resistance, anti fungal, penetrative aids.
• For manufacturing joint we also use synthetic adhesive like
PVA.
• Chemicals like borax and caustic soda are added to control
viscosity and gel temp.

Inks
• Flexo inks are used for post print
• Water based
• Solvent based
• Offset inks are used if pre-printed top ply is used.
• For Small quantity order screen printing is done.
• Flexo inks constitute major consumption.

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Stitching wire
• Galvanized wire is used for manufacturer’s joint
• Normal type
• Rust proof type
• Copper coated wire
• Brass wire
• SS wire.

The structural characteristics of corrugated board.

It is governed by four variables:-

• The number of Walls.
• The strength of Liner paper.
• The strength of corrugated Medium paper.
• The Direction, Height & Number of Flutes per meter.
• Technology by which the board is produced.

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Liner and Medium

Medium

Liner

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The Number Walls of Corrugated Board

Single Face
One medium is glued
to one flat sheet of
linerboard.

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The Number Walls of Corrugated Board

Single Wall
The medium is between
two sheets of liner. Also
known as Double Face.

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The Number Walls of Corrugated Board

Double Wall
Three sheets of
linerboard with two
mediums in between.

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The Number Walls of Corrugated Board

Triple Wall
Four sheets of linerboard
with three mediums in
between.

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Flute shape and sizes

• The commonest flute shape is a sine
wave.
• Flute size is determined on the one
hand by flute pitch and on the other
by flute height.
• The flute pitch is the horizontal
distance between adjacent flute
troughs.
• The flute height is the vertical trough
to peak distance of a flute.
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Size of Flutes – DIN 55468 -1

Flute Height (mm) No of Flutes / 300 mm
A 4.0 to 4.9 32 to 38
B 2.2 to 3.0 46 to 54
C 3.1 to 3.9 38 to 44
E 1.0 to 1.8 86 to 100

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Size of Flutes – ASTM D 4727

Flute Height (mm) No of Flutes / 300 mm
A 4.00 to 5.61 30 to 39
B 2.00 to 2.80 45 to 53
C 3.00 to 4.00 35 to 45
E 1.13 to 1.40 70 to 98

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Performance of Flutes
Characteristic A-Flute B-Flute C-Flute E-Flute
Stack strength best fair good poor
Printing poor good fair best
Die cutting poor good fair best
Puncture good fair best poor
Storage space most good fair least
Score/bend poor good fair best
Cushioning best fair good poor
Flat crush poor good fair fair

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Direction of Flute – Vertical

• Boxes are normally made
with the flutes running
vertically as shown in fig.
• Such boxes have more top
– to – bottom
compression strength.

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Direction of Flute – Horizontal

• Few shipping containers,
may be made with flutes
running horizontally as
show in fig.
• Such boxes have more side
– to – side compression
strength.

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Production of Corrugated Board

An Overview

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Process
• Process consists of first producing single face and laminating it
to top liner.
• There are two different methods of laminating top liner to
single face:
• Off-line lamination of top liner with single face.
• In line lamination of top liner with single face.
• The off-line is called semi automatic.
• The in-line method is called automatic.

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Principle of
Single face
formation

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Close View
of
Corrugating
Rolls

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Off-line
lamination
process

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In line Lamination Automatic process

• Board Making
• Box making

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Strength of Corrugated Board

• From the structure of the various types of corrugated
board, the strength
• Increases with the number of plies and
• The quality and quantity of the paper used.

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Various strength properties of corrugated board

• G S M of Board
• Bursting Strength ( B. S.)
• Puncture Resistance ( P. R.)
• Edge Crush Resistance ( E. C. T.)
• Flat Crush Resistance ( F. C. T.)
• Bending stiffness

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• GSM • GSM
• BF • CS
• BS • Drop test
• RCT • ECT
• CMT • Environmental
• PR conditions
• Cobb • FCT
• Porosity • Bending
• Bulk stiffness

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Co-relation between components for stacking

strength

For Paper For Corrugated For Corrugated

Board boxes

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Thank you – Have a nice day

Mobile: +91 98200 86841
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.ramkumarsunkara.com

The human mind is like a parachute,

it only works when it is open.

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