Performance and appearance of packaging grades of paper

Fibre-based packaging materials are widely used all over the world and are the leading material for packaging (about 40%). They have several important advantages in comparison to fossil based packaging, such as: biodegradability, recyclability, and renewability.

The features of paper and paperboard which make these materials suitable for packaging relate to performance and appearance. These features are determined by the type of paper and paperboard the raw materials used and the way they are processed. Achieving paper properties to meet today's packaging demands with available resources is perhaps the biggest challenge every paper maker and converter has to face.

This paper analyses the various studies into how paper can be measured with novel approach and methods to better predict the outcome for strength properties and print quality which has more relevance to the end user. One such example is Short span Compression Test (SCT) method, that manage better than Ring Crush Test (RCT) method to predict Edge Crush Strength and Box Compression Strength of corrugated containers. Another example is Optical surface topography measurement developed by Innventia, in Sweden, that is better suited to predict printing performance than traditional air-leak measurement techniques. Controlling the processes to achieve optimum numbers for these properties improve the performance of the product and can also save unnecessary quality related issues.