Designing Corrugated Board Properties to Mitigate Puncturing Impacts Occurring in E‐Commerce or Other Demanding Parcel Handling Distribution Chains

Abstract

The growth of e‐commerce trade has led to more parcel shipments, causing an increase in corrugated board box packaging. Individually shipped boxes often sustain more damage, like crushing or puncturing, compared to pallet‐transported boxes. In contrast to the known relationships between containerboard properties and box compressive strength, there is no standard method for designing corrugated board against puncturing, which can result in damages, customer dissatisfaction and costly returns. A hole is typically seen as a severe compromise to package integrity, whereas some crushed boxes can be acceptable for nonfragile items. Addressing this, this research has focused on developing design equations linking containerboard and corrugated board properties to resistance against puncturing. These equations give the energy loss of an impacting object that would cause a hole and define the energy absorbance limit of the material. The equations enable material design aimed at minimizing puncturing risks based on specific distribution chain conditions, like fall heights and velocities.