cardboard boxes

All About Corrugated Cardboard Boxes

How are Corrugated Boxes designed?

•   Corrugated boxes are made of corrugated paperboard.
•   Corrugated paperboard has a sequence of air columns, parallel to each other, running across the surface of the box. The air columns serve as cushioning and the series of paper columns is what makes the material durable.
•   The design of the box varies depending on the purpose of its use.  A manufacturer might choose to design corrugated boxes to be sized and/or shaped to best suit the purpose it will be used for.

How are Corrugated Boxes structured?

There are two basic components of c Fiberboard, also known as Combined Cardboard, those components are: 

• Linerboard
• Medium

These two components are made of a unique type of heavy paper, referred to as container board. 

What is Linerboard?  Linerboard is the flat cardboard surface that adheres to the medium and acts as liners.

The images below illustrate four kinds of COMBINED CARDBOARD:

Single Face: A medium is glued to a linerboard.
Single Wall: Similarly referred to as, “Double Face”. A medium is glued between two linerboards.
Double Wall: Designed like a double cheeseburger, with a linerboard glued above and below each of two mediums.
Triple Wall: Designed like a triple cheeseburger, a linerboard is glued above and below each of the three mediums.

What is the purpose of FLUTES in the design of a cardboard box?
The concept of an arch is that if shaped properly, it maximizes the strength of the area it spans.  The design of FLUTES, when attached to linerboards in a cardboard box, adheres to this concept by being shaped in such a manner as to allow it to withstand immense force and extreme pliability.

The layers of flutes combine together to form an abundant series of arched columns that act as a stabilizer in supporting heavy loads.  At the same time, the space beneath the arches of flutes serves its purpose by acting as cushioning for whatever is placed in the cardboard box.  The linerboard attached is essential to the upkeep of the flutes for the purpose of protecting it from damage as well as adding to its strength. Interestingly enough, the flutes also provide some level of protection from abrupt temperature adjustments in its surroundings area.

Please note, to the right, the diagrams indications of the various flute sizes currently manufactured on the market:  F – is the smallest flute size shown. E – is the second to smallest flute size. C – is considered the medium flute size. B – is smaller than the “C” size and   bigger than the “E” size. A – is the largest flute size and most commonly used on the market.

While there are a number of new specialized flute sizes currently being worked on for production, the ones listed above are the most common ones available and as noted above, already on the market for purchase.  The largest and larger flutes tend to be used for handling boxes since it can handle more pressure on top of it and the smaller flutes are used mostly for smaller retail cardboard box purposes.  

All About Corrugated Cardboard Boxes