What is a corrugated box

Just like corrugated pads, corrugated boxes are made of corrugated paperboard, which is a wavy paper called medium, in between flat sheets on the outside, called liners.
They form a row of air columns that acts as a cushion, and makes the box tough and strong.
The ridges in the corrugated medium are called flutes.

The number and size of flutes determine how strong the box is.
Some corrugated boards would have small numbers of very large flutes while others have higher numbers of very small flutes and can be made up of one, two, or even three layers of
flutes and liners.

A single liner, is a flexible single face corrugated board that is often used to cushion items such as light bulbs.
But a medium, glued between 2 liners, is a single wall corrugated board. Very popular and used in 90 percent of the corrugated boxes we see and use every day. They also make corrugated pads with the same cardboard.
Adding another corrugating medium and a third flat liner will get a double wall corrugated board.
Box with a double corrugated wall is stronger, heavier and more expensive.
Used to pack furniture, appliances and small but heavy items like dried beans and nails.
Triple wall corrugated boards, are boards with three layers of corrugating medium and four flat liners, tough and big, used for very large and heavy products.

Flutes
When there's pressure applied to the sides of a box, the space in between the flutes acts as a cushion and protects the contents.
The flutes also serve as an insulator, protecting the content of the box in case of temperature changes.
The vertical linerboard is to provide more strength and protects the flutes from damage.

The larger the size of a flute, the greater the vertical compression strength and cushioning the box has.
Smaller sizes flutes provide enhanced structural and graphics capabilities for designed packaging.

Some 95 percent of all products in the U.S. gets shipped in corrugated boxes, and almost most of them are produced and recycled in the U.S. .
Grocery stores alone, recycle about six million tons of old corrugated boxes each year.

Corrugated boxes are durable, lightweight, made from recycled material and cost effective.

recycling a used corrugated shipping box
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