Box compression strength

Box compression strength

During transport and storage cartons are usually stacked Measurable properties
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towards more efficient packing means that the cartons Compression strength is defined as the maximum
must contribute more protection because the secondary compression force per unit of width that a paperboard
packaging is often removed completely or partly replaced sample can withstand in a compression test without
with other materials such as plastic shrink wrapping. buckling or bending. The result is expressed in kN/m.
The box compression strength requirement (physical When paperboard packages are stacked, the
protection) depends on a number of factors: maximum load will of course occur in the bottom layer,
• the structural design of the carton, i.e. size and dimen- and the risk of collapse there can be estimated. The
sions, supporting elements in the carton design, flap important property of the material in this respect is the
design, and loading direction compression strength.
• whether the contents support the package or not
• types of secondary (transport) packaging 5FTU
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• transport, storage methods and conditions (palletisation, A 15 mm wide paperboard strip is fixed between two
stacking, climatic conditions) clamps. The free length between the two clamps is
• material properties such as stiffness and compression 0.7 mm to prevent elastic bending. The sample is
strength of the paperboard. compressed until the paperboard strip collapses,
The selection of structural designs and paperboard and the maximum force is registered.
grades is based to a large degree on experience. To prevent
damage, margins of safety are often applied when selecting
the paperboard. However, this often leads to over-specifying
due to a lack of factual information. Today’s awareness of COMPRESSION STRENGTH
the importance of packaging and the need to save resources
makes it even more important to develop material-efficient
but functional solutions.
0.7 mm
Key characteristics
Compression strength shows a similar relationship to density
or chemical pulp content as does tensile strength. The higher
compression
Bending not
the density and the amount of chemical pulp the higher the
compression strength.
Structural designs and paperboard properties have to
be matched to provide the required degree of perform-
ance from the packaging machine all the way through to
the consumer. The carton must withstand various types
of external loading and handling, protect the contents and
reach the consumer without damage. The mode and dura-
tion of loading and climatic conditions are all important. $PNQSFTTJPO
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Loading and handling Loading and handling

Types of loads: Point loads

Evenly distributed loads
Shock loads – impact, temperature/moisture

Effects on the carton: Bulging

Distorted or destroyed shape
Damaged corners
Destroyed or lost contents

138 Reference Manual | I G G ES U N D PAP ER B O A R D

 Box compression strength

The paperboard choice By replotting loads and the corresponding times to

Box compression strength is a complex property. Since it failure, lifetime expectancy curves are obtained (illustra-
is mainly determined by the box design, testing under re- tion C). The practical box compression load is typically
alistic conditions gives the most useful data for the choice several times less than the values from conventional static
of paperboard. Stiffness and compression strength (short testing (illustration A). Therefore safety margins from 2–5
span) measurements can be used to estimate the box are often applied by scaling up the load.
compression strength. Due to differences between the Reasonably simple, accurate and reliable methods for
test situation and the real world, we apply a safety margin. measuring and predicting the lifetime of boxes have not
been developed. All the contributing factors such as mate-
Box compression strength characteristics rial type, box dimensions, loading and climatic conditions
When discussing the physical protection provided by car- are well known but not yet accurate enough to be used for
tons a number of terms are used, of which some but not predictive carton life expectancy.
all are defined. The following definitions are used here: Among the test methods used, the ones in the illustra-
tion on the following page are well documented and relate
Box compression The maximum load bearing the compression strength of the carton to the properties of
strength, FB: capacity of a carton (with given design the paperboard.
and size). Units = N. During an ordinary compression test (illustration A) the
box is gradually compressed between two parallel platens.
Compression The paperboard’s (intrinsic) Despite this, the initially uniformly distributed load is soon
strength maximum load bearing capacity redistributed due to increased bulging of the panels as the
(short span), FC: per unit width. Units = kN/m. compression proceeds. Shortly before failure most of the
load is carried by two narrow zones in the corners where
Stiffness, S: Resistance to bending. bulging is hindered due to the geometry (see the illustration
Units = Nm. below). Research has proved that simplifications whereby
The following equation describes the relationship: testing is done by using only one corner or a panel (see illus-
trations B and C) are sufficiently accurate, provided that
a b
FB = K × FC × S (K, a, and b are constants) the specimen is supported along its edges and that the
dimensions are within certain limits.
During transport and storage the box will carry dynamic
loads for a specific time period. The loading conditions
can be simplified into two types. Loading with a constant
deformation rate (illustration A) or a constant load over
a longer time period (illustration B).

B
DEFORMATION %

Compression
Compression
failure failure
A
LOAD, N

Max load, FB

TIME

C
LOAD

DEFORMATION %

TIME

Constant load = storage/life time test

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I G G E SU N D PA PE R B O AR D | Reference Manual 139

Box compression strength

Assessment of box compression strength The compression strength of a paperboard panel FP is then:
By combining test results using the above methods with
theories from physics it has been shown that the compres- FP ≈ 2π × √F C
√SMD × SCD
sion strength of the paperboard panel is described by the
following expression: ≈ 6.28 × √F C
√SMD × SCD

FP = c × √FC
√SMD × SCD and consequently for a complete box consisting of
four panels 4 × FP:
FP = Panel compression strength
FB = 4FP ≈ 8π × √F C
√SMD × SCD
FC = Compression strength (short span)
in the direction of loading The box compression strength is controlled by the paper-
board stiffness and the compression strength. The illustra-
SMD = Stiffness MD tion below gives the relationship between measured panel
compression strength and the predicted value based on
SCD = Stiffness CD measurements of short span compression strength and
stiffness of the paperboard, using the above equation.
c = Constant As can be seen, the agreement is very good.
Based on these simplifications it is possible to quantify
√SMD × SCD = Geometric mean stiffness how the measured properties of the paperboard, i.e. com-
pression strength (short span) and stiffness, contribute to
By simplifying geometrical parameters and panel size the panel and box compression strength. It is, however,
it has been found that for a range of carton panel sizes important to realise that the size of the carton and the flap
the constant c has a value of approximately 2π equal to design have a large influence on the practical results.
6.28. The minimum size of the panel is approximately 60
× 90 mm (width × height). If the panel is smaller, bulging
is gradually diminished and the above relationship is no
longer accurate.

BOX COMPRESSION

COMPRESSION STRENGTH STIFFNESS

A. Box (crush) B. Corner (crush)

compression test compression test

C. Panel (crush) D. Short span SMALL LARGE

compression test compression test

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140 Reference Manual | I G G ES U N D PAP ER B O A R D

 Box compression strength

The relative importance of carton size is shown in the Key properties

illustration below. For very small cartons, bulging of the The box compression strength of a carton is governed
panels is small or non-existent, which means that only by the paperboard’s compression strength (short span)
the paperboard’s compression strength is of importance and stiffness. Fundamental research and experimental
(stiffness plays a minor role). In contrast, cartons with very data have shown that within certain limits it is possible
large panels are much more dependent on stiffness than to predict box compression performance based on the
compression strength. paperboard’s compression strength and stiffness. This
When comparing different materials it is also important means that for the paperboard these values can be used
to remember that it is not possible to find materials with to compare different grades. However, it is important to
maximum stiffness and compression strength at the point out that knowledge and facts are still lacking for a
same time. real prediction of the long term behaviour of boxes during
compression loading that takes place during storage and

transport.

DENSITY. AMOUNT OF CHEMICAL PULP

STIFFNESS COMPRESSION STRENGTH

C C
0 100%

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Panel compression strenght (measured) N

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Panel compression strenght calculated from the equation F S xS N

C MD CD

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I G G E SU N D PA PE R B O AR D | Reference Manual 141