The 4th edition of the

Interdisciplinarity in Engineering International Conference

“Petru Maior” University of Tîrgu Mureş, Romania, 2009

EXPERIMENTAL OPTIMIZATION OF PERFORATIONS

FOR CORRUGATED BOARD BOXES
Nadina NEIDONI#1, Vasile BOLOŞ*2, M.I. BUZDUGAN#3
#
Rondocarton Ltd Cluj-Napoca
Apahida/Cluj ,Street. Aviatorillor Nr. 2a, Sânnicoară, RO-407042,Cluj County,Romania
1
nadina.neidoni@rondo-ganahl.co
*
Petru Maior University ofTîrgu-Mureş
Tîrgu Mureş, Nicolae Iorga street, no. 1, 540088, Mureş County,Romania
2
vasile.volos@ing.upm.ro
#
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca ,Street.Memorandumului Nr. 28, RO-400114, Cluj County, Romania
3
mircea.buzdugan@insta.utcluj.ro

ABSTRACT
The paper presents a practical method of optimizing type, dimensions and position of
perforations for shelf ready packaging. The optimization criterion is the box compression
test, in accordance with the ISO 12048:1994(E) international standard, which assesses
the performance of a package in terms of its strength or the protection it offers to its
contents when it is subjected to compressive forces. The exemplification is performed on a
shelf ready box on corrugated board, material type 211.5E, using the box compression
tester MESSPHYSIK ALPHA 50.

Keywords: packaging, optimization, corrugated board, box, compression test

1. Introduction perforations which allow the rapid metamorphosis

Nowadays, the complete supply chain, from the from a storing and/or shipping packaging, into a
producer to the final consumer imposes to corrugated display (figure 1. a. and b.), the so called shelf ready
board boxes to be suitable for storing, shipping and packaging [2]. On the other hand, perforations
displaying in the sale points [1]. weaken compression strength of the corrugated board,
In order to correspond to this versatility, with a value depending on their type, dimensions and
corrugated board packages have to be provided with position.

Fig. 1 - Shelf ready packaging 

Therefore, performing box compression tests in the protection it offers to its contents when it is
order to get the optimum shape and dimensions of the subjected to compressive forces.
boxes becomes mandatory. A test may be performed either to as a single test
In accordance with the ISO 12048:1994(E) to investigate the effects (deformation, collapse or
international standard [3], the test is used to assess the failure) of compression or stacking, or as part of a
performance of a package in terms of its strength or sequence of tests designed to measure the ability of a

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package to withstand a distribution system that both by the corrugated board stiffness and edgewise
includes a compression or stacking hazard. compressive strength.
The test may also be used as a stacking test to The values of compressive strength of boxes can
investigate performance under particular conditions be determined by calculation, if we know [8, 9]:
of loading, as, for example, when the bottom package - the Edgewise Compression Strength,
in a stack rests on an open-decked pallet [4]. obtained after tests ECT [kN/m]
- the corrugated board stiffness Sb , on
2. Principle, apparatus, procedure and theory
of the compression test
machine direction  SbMD  and on cross-

The test package is placed between the platens of machine direction  SbCD  [Nm]
a compression tester and either: - the perimeter of the box, Z [m]
a) in the case of a compression test, a load is These parameters compose the McKee's well-
applied until failure occurs or predetermined known equation which has the general form:
values for load or displacement are reached; BCT  k1  ECT b  Sb1b Z 2b 1  N
or
For the particular case of corrugated board boxes,
b) in the case of a stacking test, a
McKee's formula becomes:
predetermined load is applied for a
predetermined time or until failure occurs. BCT  k1  ECT 0.75  Sb10.25 Z 0.5  N
The compression tester, motor-driven, platen- where:
type,is capable of applying load through uniform Sb  SbMD  SbCD  N  m
movement of one or both platens at a relative speed
A simplified practical form of McKee's formula,
of 10mm/min  3mm/min., dimensioned so as to applicable to corrugated paperboard is:
extend over the whole area of that side of the test
BCT  k2  ECT  T 0.5  Z 0.5  N
package or interposed devices with which it is in
contact.
Wherever possible the test shall be carried out in
the same atmospheric conditions as used for
conditioning (23 g Celsius and 50% humidity) [5].
The load is applied by the relative movement of
the platens at the appropriate speed, in such a way
that peaks in excess of the predetermined load do not
occur, until predetermined value is reached or until
collapse occurs, whichever is first. If collapse occurs
first, one must record the value of the load reached.
In real operating conditions, compressive strength
of boxes is reduced due to the following reasons:
- the box content exercises forces that
determine the wall deformation to outside
- compressive forces are acting on the boxes
for long periods (weeks-months) Fig.2 - Theoretical stress-strain diagram 
- during manipulation and shipping the boxes
are exposed to vibrations, shocks or different 3. Experimental results
strokes, also air parameters are variable, so Tests were carried out using the MESSPHYSIK
that moisture equilibrium of the box changes ALPHA 50 BCT tester, presented in figure 3.
relatively frequent Test parameters are:
- during storage, compression forces are not BN0 .......................Batch number
uniformly distributed on the surface of the Fmax ......................Maximum load
box
"M ........................Strain at compressive strength
throughout the perimeter of the box. When load
FB .........................Breaking load
increases, a first critical point is reached (point "a",
t .............................Test duration
Figure 2.). At this point the walls of the box are
elastically deformed to the outside, while the corners sFmax ....................Stroke at Fmax
remain unaffected [5, 6]. sB ..........................Stroke at break
Compressive forces are concentrated towards the The test reports give several statistic results [10-12].
corners of the box, which will be more affected than The mean value is in this case the arithmetic
its sides and when the second critical point "b" is mean, which for a data set represents the sum of the
exceeded, the corners begin to crush. When reaching observations divided by number of observations.
maximum load, the point "c" of the stress-strain In probability theory and statistics, the median is
diagram, sides are folded and edges are crushed [7]. described as the number separating the higher half of
Consequently, the resistance of a box is given a population from the lower half. If there is an even

288
number of observations, the median is not unique, so standard deviation indicates that the data points tend
one often takes the mean of the two middle values. In to
our case, the median is the geometric mean of the two
middle values. The median is less sensitive to be very close to the mean, whereas high standard
extreme scores than the mean and this makes it a deviation indicates that the data are spread out over a
better measure than the mean value income, large range of values.
especially for highly skewed distributions. Standard deviation is commonly used to measure
The range is the length of the smallest interval confidence in statistical conclusions.
which contains all the data. It is calculated by The standard deviation is calculated as:
subtracting the smallest observation from the greatest 1 N
 
2
and provides an indication of statistical dispersion.  
N i 1
xi  x

We take the example of the box presented in

Figure 1. The developed diagram of the box is
presented in Figure 4.
The results of the tests performed on the different
boxes without perforations (dotted lines on figure 3)
are presented in table 1 and in the graphs depicted in
Figure 5.
It can be seen from the graphs that the shape of
the practical curves is quite different from the
theoretical one in the sense that the critical points are
not easily discernible.

Fig. 3 - The BCT machine

The standard deviation is a measure of the

variability or dispersion of a population. A low

Fig. 4 - The developed diagram box

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 Table 1. Compression test report of the box without perforations

Fig. 5 - Box compression tests graphs

290
 In order to optimize the compressive strength of References
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different boxes and for several types, dimensions and Willey &Sons Inc., 2009.
positions of the perforation. [2] Mark J. Kirwan, Paper and Paperboard Packaging
Technology, Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2005
[3] *** ISO 12048:1994 (E) Standard;
4. Conclusions Packaging – Complete, filled transport packages –
The statistical results of the tests give rise to a Compression and stacking tests using a compression tester
range of interesting conclusions in terms of [4] Thakkar, B.K., et al., “Experimental and numerical
optimizing perforations. investigation of creasing in corrugated paperboard”,
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