Most items stored in the local grocery store, shopping malls, or gift archery are preserved in safety boxes made up of hard or soft cardboard material. You may have been using such boxes for multiple purposes for years now, but did you take the pain to know what they are made up of?
Let’s figure it out!
Cardboard boxes are made with a versatile packaging material that safeguards almost every kind of product or belonging. These are made up of different material types, which decide their quality and display potential. Such is its demand that millions of tons of pine trees are used to manufacture corrugated cardboard boxes.
A quick brief about its background –
In 1992, up to 25 million tons of cardboard were manufactured in the United States, used for different purposes ranging from cosmetic to grocery item packaging material. This quality raw material produced was later transformed into paper boxes or folding cartons. Such is its manufacturing that it holds the potential to carry heavy equipment.
The most commonly used corrugated packaging cardboards are strong, lightweight, and stiff to use. Generally, it is a multi-layer brown kraft paper made with a unique technique for better reliability. In 1884, a Swedish Chemist named Carl F. Dahl created a process of using wood chips to make paper-like texture and then use it for box-making purposes. Later, he called the entire process a kraft process as it used a strong paper quality that resists bursting, tearing, or splitting.
Raw Material used –
It may interest you to know that pine trees work as the primary raw material required for cardboard manufacturing. As a result, some paper core manufacturers grow, cultivate, and use pine trees every year. The massive trunks are shifted to the pulp mill to convert it into kraft paper. The process uses quality sulfate and other chemicals, which break the wooden chips into fibrosis pulp, progressing towards cardboard sheet making.
As these are made using the kraft process, the sheets are stiff and ensure the best finishing. This is the reason you notice sharp edges of a cardboard box or other products. Furthermore, manufacturers use corn starch glue mix to bond the different cardboard sheets and form a box. Here, one must focus on the sheet lining, if it is medium or liner.
The glue used in the process is blended with wax and other vegetable oils to strengthen the container’s reliability. Rest, it depends on the design of the cardboard box.
The manufacturing process of cardboards –
Its manufacturing process is detailed and consists of cardboard refining stages. Here are the details –
- Pulping the fine pine wooden chips
- Getting ready for the kraft process
- Storing the kraft paper for some time
- Corrugating the cardboard sheets obtained
- Forming the sheets into cardboard boxes using glue
- Passing the cardboard boxes through rigid quality checks
Conclusion –
Cardboard boxes are a significant highlight of any store you visit. Besides the commercial purposes, it has become a growing need for residential areas too. One can use it for different purposes ranging from decoration to storage. It all depends on your creativity and out-of-box ideas.
