Successful shipping for your product will never be possible without durable packaging. Corrugated has a special place in packaging materials when it comes to providing cushion and support to fragile products. Corrugated Boxes can be customized to any size, shape, and design, while you can pick the right flute and style for maximum protection. It begins with updating your knowledge base with the right information to get the benefit without overdoing safety, which has a direct impact on your packaging cost. Let’s get into the details of corrugated packaging and discover the fundamental factors to make informed decisions about your packaging.

What is Corrugated?

Keep one word in your mind to identify corrugated packaging material “zigzag”. Whenever you see a packaging material that has a zigzag structure, it corrugates. Corrugated packaging material has flutes and multiple walls to give your packaging the required amount of durability. The high sturdiness and lightweight make these boxes ideal packaging choices for product shipping.

Structure of Corrugated

The main components of corrugated are liners and flutes. The strength of corrugated material comes from the flutes inserted between liners. These two components are stuck with glue, pressed, and cut on the corrugator machine. All corrugated boxes have a very humble beginning; they start from a flat sheet that can be printed according to the needs of clients. The signature strength of corrugated comes from flexo folder gluers that create the individual flaps through cross slots and cross scores. The cold glue was applied to bring the box together in the final shape. You can understand the structure of corrugated by grasping its standards, including:

• Board Styles 
• Flutes 
• Dimensions  
• Testing

Corrugated Board Styles

The standard thickness of corrugated materials depends on how many walls are present in your boxes.

• Single Face: It has only one liner and one corrugated sheet. They are glued together and become an ideal choice for interior packaging, cushioning within boxes, and wrapping items.  
• Single Wall:  It’s the most commonly used corrugated material, where a corrugated layer is sandwiched between two liners, making it the perfect packaging option for custom shipping boxes and mailer boxes.  
• Double Wall: When you join one single wall with one single face corrugated, it will give you double-wall corrugated boxes. On counting, you will see, it will have three liners and two corrugated fluting layers.   
• Triple Wall: It’s the most durable corrugated material that can be obtained when one single wall and two single-face corrugations join together. On counting, it will have four liners and three layers of flutes.

Types of Flutes in Corrugated

Flutes in corrugated boxes can be identified by using two factors: thickness and the number of flutes per linear foot.

A Flute Corrugated

A flute has a 4.8mm thickness and 33 flutes per linear foot. It provides a high cushioning effect but will have less structural integrity. It is used for shipping heavy items.

C Flute Corrugated

C flute has 4mm thickness and 39 flutes per linear foot, making it the most popular fluting type among other corrugated types. They are the best material for Shipping boxes to secure food, glass, furniture, and more.

B Flute Corrugated

B flute has 32mm thickness and 47 flutes per linear foot. It has high puncture resistance while giving a perfect surface for excellent printing. You can use them for inner packaging, smaller mailer boxes, and retail displays.

D Flute Corrugated

D flute has 23mm thickness and 60 flutes per linear foot. It’s among the least used corrugated materials, among others.

E Flute Corrugated

The E flute has a 16 mm thickness and 90 flutes per linear foot. It’s very hard to crush E flute corrugated, so they are ideal for cosmetic packaging, pizza boxes, and retail boxes.

F Flute Corrugated

F flute has 0.8mm thickness and 125 flutes per linear foot and is a perfect candidate for lightweight consumer products such as cosmetic packaging and the fast food industry.

How to Measure the Dimensions of Corrugated Boxes?

When it comes to the dimensions of corrugated boxes, it’s always the interior dimensions that count as significant and are expressed as length x width x height.

Testing of Corrugated Boxes

There are two main tests used to measure the strength of corrugated boxes: the Mullen Burst Test and Edge Crush Test.

Mullen Burst Test

It tells about how much pressure a corrugated box can withstand from external forces. In this test, a pressurized diaphragm is applied to the corrugated boxes, and note the value before rupturing. 

Edge Crush Test

Every corrugated box has a limit when it comes to handling heavy loads and stacking. To measure the value of where the box structure will fail, a perpendicular force is applied to the boxes until they buckle. The measurements of the boxes are shown on them in the form of a round printed label.

Styles in Corrugated Boxes

Corrugated boxes provide you with diversity regarding style. They come in various shapes that meet different packaging needs. Here are the most used styles of corrugated boxes:

• Regular Slotted Containers 
• Full Overlap Containers  
• Half Slotted Containers  
• Telescoping Boxes  
• Gusset Folder  
• Roll End Tuck Front  
• Roll End 3 Flaps Tuck  
• Tab Lock Roll End  
• Mailer Boxes 

Pros and Cons of Corrugated Packaging Material

Pros

Cost-Effective and Lightweight

Corrugated boxes will cost you less compared to other packaging materials and help you save money due to the lightweight boxes during shipping calculations.

Durability and Protection

They have a variety of flutings designed to offer high shock absorption due to perfect cushioning. It ensures that your products reach their destination in one piece. For ultimate protection, use the right wall thickness (single, double, triple).

Environmentally Friendly

Corrugated is the most recyclable packaging material and is biodegradable. It means your boxes will be broken down into environmentally friendly components, leaving no harm to the planet. As a brand, you can market your packaging to attract environmentally conscious customers while reducing your carbon footprint.

Customizable

Size, shape, and design, every element of your boxes will be in your hands. You can choose the right design to print your brand name, logo, and artwork in the most vibrant colors. For better protection and attractiveness, use finishing options like hot gold stamping, aqueous coating, UV spot coating, and more. 

Cons

Vulnerability to Moisture

Corrugated boxes will never survive in a high-humidity. You can never expose these packaging materials to rain and snow. They are not waterproof, so their structural integrity is significantly compromised, leading to damage your packed items as well.

Strength Limitation

Standard corrugated boxes have a certain limit on the pressure they can hold. In this case, you need to choose rigid boxes that are made of strong chipboards.

Takeaways

• Corrugated boxes are cost-effective and durable packaging for your products.  
• Choose the right wall thickness and flute type for better reinforcement.  
• The customization options in corrugated boxes make them ideal choices for many brands.  
• Select the right styles of corrugated boxes aligned with your shipping needs.  
• You can have maximum advantage during the DIM calculation of shipping boxes due to lightweight corrugated boxes.

Share your artwork and packaging needs with our experts and get the high-quality custom boxes at the most affordable prices from The Packaging World. Contact us to make your packaging journey seamless, have peace of mind.

FAQs

How can I reinforce the strength of corrugated boxes? 

Use vertical fluting in your corrugated boxes and choose double or triple wall with the combination of different fluting. Use lugs and flanges as inserts to reinforce the structural integrity and stackability of your corrugated boxes.