The examination of the impact of humidity on cardboard endurance in the offset printed and laminated packages

Abstract

The essential function of packaging is to conserve the product that the package contains. In the course of this conservation, packaging is affected by many physical and chemical factors, the major one of which is moisture absorbed in the cardboard. The package gets in a relationship with humidity in the air from the time of its production up until its last user. It picks up most of the moisture it has during the processes of offset printing and lamination. This study examines both the procedures run before and after the manufacture of packages produced in the packaging sector, and the interplay between the package and the environments in which it is placed during these procedures. In this research, the combination of 225 gram/m2 cardboard, 112 gram/m 2 test-liner and 125 gram/m2 kraft-liner was used. The cardboard that were set to different values of moisture and were brought to optimum condition in the conditioning room were printed successively on the offset printing machine under the same conditions. The printed cardboards were laminated after they were left for 24 hours in the environment in which the lamination process was to be carried out. The lamination was followed by the procedure of cutting and box-folding lines. Afterwards such tests as ECT (Edge Crush Test), FCT (Flat Crush Test), BCT (Box Compression Test) were applied to the corrugated cardboards produced after lamination. Finally, suggestions were offered as to which moisture values the corrugated cardboards are more durable at during and after manufacturing.