The corrugated box industry is staggering due to tremendous pressure and rise in input costs and the industry’s failure due to raise in prices. Manufacturers of paper mills had raised the prices of Kraft paper, the main raw material for the industry by Rs 1,999-3,999 per tonne. But the final consumers are refusing to pay higher prices. According to Business Standard, the packaging industry margin has reduced to nil due to the rise in the price of raw materials especially Kraft paper that accounts to 70—75% of the total input cost.
As packaging plays an important role to ensure the safety of products during transit and storage. Cartons are stacked on each other that goes through compressive forces that leads to breaking down of boxes. It is important to check the box compression strength of the corrugated boxes. Design of the box is an important parameter while manufacturing these boxes to ensure box compression strength. A box compression tester is a highly effective machine to measure the compression strength of corrugated boxes.
Factors that affect the box compression strength are:
- Whether products support the package or not
- The structural design of the carton that includes size and dimensions, supporting elements in the carton design, loading direction and flap design
- Types of secondary packaging
- Storage, transport and conditions such as climatic condition, stacking etc.
- Material properties like compression strength and stiffness
Box compression strength can be referred to as the measure of the maximum compressive force per unit that a paper board box can bear at the time of compression test until it reaches the buckling stage. Stacked boxes in a humid environment such as 49% – 79% RH last only about 1/5th as long as the same boxes are exposed to constant high humidity. Compression strength Tester helps the manufacturers to safeguard the quality of the materials. To provide the safest mode to packed products, high-quality boxes are offered. So, at the time of storage, the compression strength must be checked properly.
Box compression testing is designed to evaluate the stacking and top load strength of cartons. The machine is available in two models one is digital and the other is computerised. It measures the compression strength in lbf, newtons and kgf. The unit comes with travel protection, TARE and P/H Peak hold facility. The equipment has a strong base made of metal and finished in Autumn Gray and Blue combination and bright chrome and zinc plating to resist corrosion.
