Comparison of Cushioning Performance between Honeycomb Paper and Corrugated Paper

For fragile products, such as glass products, ceramic products, handicrafts, bottled food and beverage, as well as sophisticated electronic, electrical and communication products, it is necessary to minimize the damage to products caused by the transportation and circulation process. The transportation package or buffer package plays a key role here. The main forms of existing transport packaging are:

Outer packaging

Outer packaging is an effective way to protect fragile products from damage. It is generally required that the outer packaging of fragile products should have a certain compressive strength and puncture resistance strength, which can protect the fragile products from damage under normal transportation, storage and stacking conditions.The most typical and commonly used outer packaging of fragile products is corrugated boxes. Some large and heavy fragile products are packed in honeycomb cardboard boxes. Some lighter or higher compressive strength products, such as glass cans, are transported on pallets with wound film packaging instead of corrugated boxes.

No matter what kind of fragile outer package, the words "fragile" and corresponding patterns shall be marked on the upper left corner of the four sides.

Corrugated box

Corrugated carton is the largest transport packaging container currently used. The commonly used corrugated box for fragile products is made of three or five layers of corrugated cardboard.

Corrugated cardboard generally has four types: A, B, C and E. A, B and C corrugated cardboard can be used to make cartons for fragile products. The difference lies in the higher and thinner A-shaped edges, the lower compressive strength, the lower and denser B-shaped edges, the higher compressive strength, and the intermediate C-shaped edges. The selection of cardboard boxes with different shapes or layers is mainly based on the importance of the contents and the requirements for compressive strength.

In the past, due to the backward transportation conditions in China, the phenomenon of rough loading and unloading often occurred. The domestic demand for 5-layer corrugated boxes was large, accounting for about 70%. However, with the improvement of transportation conditions in China in recent years, the application proportion of 3-layer corrugated boxes has increased year by year. And with the change of sales methods, the transport packaging of many fragile products is closer to the sales packaging. The design of corrugated boxes is becoming more and more complex, and the quality of printing and decoration is also getting higher and higher. Many of them have been grandly mounted on the shelves of supermarkets.

Honeycomb cardboard box

Honeycomb cardboard box is a box container made of honeycomb cardboard. Honeycomb paperboard is light in weight, high in compression resistance, bending resistance and shear strength, and has good cushioning and vibration isolation performance. There are three kinds of packaging boxes with honeycomb paperboard as the main material. One is the composite packing box. The outer layer of the box is made of fiberboard or plywood with strong puncture ability, the middle layer is honeycomb paper core, and the inner wall is bonded with straw paperboard; The other is full honeycomb cardboard packing box. That is, honeycomb paper is used as the sandwich, and the inside and outside are bonded with cardboard; The third is the lined packaging box. The corrugated box is used as the box, and the upper and lower walls of the box are lined with honeycomb cardboard, which has strong shock resistance, compression resistance, thermal insulation and puncture resistance.

Compared with traditional corrugated boxes, honeycomb cardboard boxes have better mechanical properties. For example, experiments such as destructive drop, heavy object stacking, and rolling of actual packaging show that the damage rate of fragile items in honeycomb cardboard boxes is 50%~97% lower than that in corrugated boxes; 600 kg weight placed on the empty box will not deform after pressure test for three months, and polystyrene liner is not required; The weight ratio with corrugated boxes of the same specification is 2:5, which can save 60% of cardboard. The popularization and application of this kind of carton will play a positive role in reducing the breakage rate of goods in the circulation process and improving the quality of packaging products. In particular, honeycomb cartons are the best choice for jade carvings and handicrafts with high value.

Wrapping film packaging

With the gradual palletization of packaging and transportation, the use of plastic wrapped stretch film as a means of transportation packaging is becoming increasingly popular. Stacking the sales package of fragile products on the pallet and forming a whole by winding the film can reduce packaging, eliminate corrugated boxes and reduce packaging costs.

The winding stretch shrinkable film is produced with linear low density polyethylene as the main raw material by co extrusion blown film method or tape casting method. It has great tensile elongation and retraction properties, and the elongation can be as high as 500%. Pallet type winding packaging is to wrap the products with the help of the retraction force after the winding film is stretched to form a compact, non space occupying unit as a whole, so that the products and the pallet are tightly wrapped together, which can effectively prevent the products from being dislocated and moving each other during transportation.

In recent years, the winding film has developed rapidly. It is very suitable for the pallet packaging of bulk goods. This "centralized loading and unloading" method combining pallet and forklift not only reduces the transportation cost and improves the logistics efficiency, but also because of the good transparency of the film, the packaging object is beautiful and generous, and it is easy to identify the contents, reducing the dispensing error.

The disadvantage of winding film is that its compression resistance and puncture resistance are weak, and its use is limited, especially in the packaging of fragile products. It is usually only applicable to those products with sales packaging, less turnover times, lighter goods or higher compression strength.

Inner packaging

The main function of the inner packaging of fragile products is to provide the fixation and buffering of the contents. The qualified inner packaging can protect the fragile products from collision and vibration during transportation, and can return to the original shape to provide further cushioning. There are a variety of internal packaging materials and methods to choose from.

Liner plate

Lining board is the most popular form of internal packaging at present. Corrugated paperboard is usually used to form a network structure by crossing each other, which is matched with the external packaging carton in size. According to the shape of the items, cut the corrugated paper liner, and then clip the items in it. The whole process of lining plate production, cutting and packing can be completed through mechanized operation, which is very suitable for packaging large quantities of products.

The corrugated lining board is used as the internal packaging, which can provide good commodity fixation performance, avoid the collision between fragile products and reduce the damage rate. In addition, since the production material is corrugated paper, which is consistent with the corrugated box material, it is conducive to unified recycling, meeting the environmental protection needs, and the cost is very low.

The objects in contact with the bottom of the box have a high probability of damage due to the high pressure. Usually, a layer of corrugated paper partition is added at the bottom of the box to enhance the cushioning performance. At present, plastic diaphragms have also appeared on the market. It uses high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or polypropylene (PP) extrusion or extrusion molding, and has many advantages such as low cost, bending resistance, impact resistance, pollution-free, aging resistance, corrosion resistance, moisture resistance and waterproof, etc. It can solve the problem of interlayer packaging that may be encountered in the mass transportation of beer bottles, ceramics, etc. Compared with corrugated paperboard, plastic partitions can better adapt to the trends of unloading and stacking mechanization and storage management shelving, and will be more and more widely used.

Foam plastics and their substitutes

As a traditional cushioning packaging material, foamed plastic has good cushioning and vibration absorption properties, light weight, good protection, wide adaptability and other advantages, and is widely used in the packaging of fragile products. In particular, the foam plastic can be prefabricated into relevant buffer modules according to the product shape, which is very convenient for application.

Polystyrene foam was once the most important cushioning packaging material. However, the traditional foamed polystyrene is gradually replaced by other environment-friendly buffer materials due to the use of freon as the foaming agent that will destroy the ozone layer of the atmosphere, the large volume of waste foamed plastics, and the difficulty in recycling.

At present, foamed PP, honeycomb paperboard and pulp molding products are the main substitutes for polystyrene foamed plastics. Foamed PP does not use Freon and has many cushioning properties similar to foamed polystyrene. It is a soft foamed material and can form complex structures by bonding. It is a new type of cushioning material with good application prospects.

Honeycomb paperboard has the advantages of large bearing capacity, good buffering, not easy to deform, high strength, environmental protection and low cost. It can be prefabricated into various shapes instead of foam plastic, and is suitable for packaging fragile products used in large quantities, especially for bulky or bulky fragile products.

Pulp molded products are also packaging materials that can partially replace foamed polystyrene. It is mainly made of paper or other natural plant fibers through pulping, molding and drying. According to the appearance and weight of fragile products, specific geometric cavity structures can be designed to meet the different requirements of products. The product has good adsorbability, degradable waste, and can be stacked for storage, greatly reducing the transportation and storage space. However, its poor resilience and shockproof performance do not apply to the packaging of bulky or heavy fragile products.

Air cushion film

Air cushion film is also called bubble film. Air is sealed between two layers of plastic film with a special method to form bubbles continuously and evenly between the films. Bubbles are circular, semicircular, bell shaped, etc. Bubble film can provide good protection for light goods. As a soft buffer material, bubble film can be cut into various specifications and can be used to package products of almost any shape or size. When using the air cushion film, use multiple layers to ensure that the product (including corners and edges) is completely protected.

The disadvantage of air cushion film is that it is easy to expand and contract due to the influence of ambient temperature. The expansion will lead to the damage of the outer packing box and the packed object, while the contraction will lead to the movement of the contents of the package, which will lead to the instability of the package and eventually lead to the damage of the product. Moreover, its puncture resistance is poor, and it is not suitable for packaging fragile products with acute angles.

In situ foaming

In situ foaming, polyurethane foam plastic products are mainly used to expand beside the contents and form a protection model, which is especially suitable for the packaging of small batch and irregular items.

The general operation procedure is as follows: First, inject a two-component foaming material into a plastic bag at the bottom of the carton, then place the packaged product on the foaming material, then take a plastic bag, inject an appropriate amount of foaming material to cover the fragile products, and soon the foaming material will fill the entire carton, forming a perfect protection for the fragile products.

The biggest feature of on-site foaming is that it can be formed on site without any mold. It is especially suitable for individual and irregular products, or the packaging of valuable and fragile products. It can be widely used in special occasions such as postal service and express delivery.

filler

It was widely used to fill various soft materials in packaging containers as cushioning packaging. There are many kinds of materials, such as waste paper, plant fiber, foam plastic ball, etc. However, due to the difficulty of filling the container with fillers, the fixation of the contents is poor, and the waste packaging is not convenient for recycling, so this packaging form is gradually declining.