CORRUGATED PACKAGING- MATERIALS USED IN PACKAGING

Dr. Asit K Ray Professor of Chemical Engineering HISTORY OF PACKAGING-1

Early Stage of Civilization (5000-2000 BC) • Primitive humans were nomadic hunter and gatherers - used leaves and animal skins • Progress led to fabricated sacks, baskets, bags made from plant,animal skins, clay from river banks shaped into containers--potteries • Use of wood, hollow logs to wooden boxes • Use of glass( 1500 BC) and metal containers • Use of paper as packaging (2000BC-1700) HISTORY OF PACKAGING-2

From Industrial Revolution(1700 AD) to 1945 • Industrial Revolution in Europe, migration of village workers to cities for work in factories • Needs of inexpensive mass-produced goods for city dwellers led to consumer society, using earned money to buy goods shipped • Transportation of packaged goods from the cities to villages and vice versa, added the functions of containing/ protection • Lack of storage facilities led to individual packages in amounts that people preferred HISTORY OF PACKAGING-3

• A packaging Milestone in 1877- the introduction of trademark symbol by American Cereal Co.,Quaker Oats • First plastics based on cellulose was made in 1856 but packaging in the form of film was introduced in 1911 • Woolworth opened first five-and-ten store, a forerunner of the supermarket • The functions, to inform and to sell were added to functions: contain, protect and preserve MODERN PACKAGING • Second World war & baby boom led to major changes in designing products & packages-- fast foods & single service easily disposable packaging • Growth of convenience and prepared food packages, TV dinners, boil-in-bag, canned foods • Plastics(cheap, light, relatively stable) became primary materials for packaging • Safety considerations led to child-resistant & tamper-evident closures for food/medical prod • Microwave generation- convenient and fast MODERN PACKAGING

Services to the consumer society are still growing (2nd half 20th century to present) • Tremendous multiplication of goods led to production of many brands of the same good- forcing packaging to provide more motivation for buying products than the products themselves • Global urbanization require increased high quality food to cities at affordable price- challenges to producers and packers MODERN PACKAGING

Importance of packaging food/medicine to modern industrial society • Food because of short natural shelf life has to be stored/shipped properly – chemical preservation and controlled environment storage and shipment • Medicines and medical devices must be sorted and shipped properly with the additional complexity of sterilization and maintaining it • Problem of disposal of solid wastes WORLD PACKAGING Packaging in highly developed countries versus packaging in less developed countries • Difference in packaging priorities, emphasis on inform/sell in highly developed countries, emphasis on contain/protect in less developed countries • Wastage of foods in less developed countries for lack of proper storage, packaging to protect from elements of nature and insects MATERIALS USED IN MODERN PACKAGING – Materials used in modern packaging are: glass, metals, wood, paper, paper board(p/b), corrugated board & plastics – Each one of these materials has desirable properties with some deficiencies. Choice of material depends on the particular packaging need including the environment it will have to endure - durability, weight and cost- which are main factors MATERIALS USED IN PACKAGING-1

GLASS CONTAINERS: – Typical glasses are made from silica(sand), limestone, soda ash and alumina in a melting furnace at 1500C – Glass containers- bottles, vials, trays are used in primary packaging – Glass is chemically inert, can withstand high temperature, hard, rigid,offers good barriers to gases/liquids- heavy weight, high cost, brittleness are minuses MATERIALS USED IN PACKAGING-2

METAL CANS/CONTAINERS AND WOOD: – Steel, tin and aluminum are the metals used for making can and containers – Common metal container shapes : Three-piece cans, two-piece cans, one- piece cans,two-piece drawn-and –ironed beverage cans, three-piece ovals, beverage cans, aerosol cans, industrial pails/drums – Wood b/c of porosity, used as box /crate MATERIALS USED IN PACKAGING-3

PROPERTIES OF METALS: – Metals(steel etc.) are sanitary, relatively inexpensive(compared to glass), thermally stable, structurally strong, are excellent barriers to light, gases(air), oil and grease, easy to process on high- speed line- make excellent food containers; aluminum- watch out ! – Main drawback is its higher weight and cost when compared to modern plastics MATERIALS USED IN PACKAGING- 4 PAPER AND PAPERBOARD – Paper is made from cellulose fibers derived from trees, straws, linen, cotton – Pulping (mechanical/chemical) is separating cellulose fibers from the wood mass of the tree – The pulp is conditioned and then fed to paper making machine to make paper – Paperboards are not as strong as metals, tough and durable as plastics, porous and get wet MATERAILS USED IN PACKAGING-5 PAPER TYPES: – Greaseproof paper, parchment, glassine are used as primary packaging to wrap oily snack foods, cookies, candy bars – Natural Kraft paper is used to make paper bags – Pouch papers are super pressed virgin Kraft paper treated to make it softer – Container /linerboard is a solid Kraft board to make corrugated board MATERIALS USED IN PACKAGING-6 PAPERBOARD CARTONS – Folding Cartons. By far the largest and most important in paperboard packaging. Majority of folding carton designs are grouped into tube-style and tray-style type. Many variations exist within each type, not all the shapes are boxlike(basket,tray) – Setup Boxes.These are rigid and sturdy – Tubs,Trays & Liquid resistant boxes are used to store ice cream, frozen entrees & food products MATERIALS USED IN PACKAGING-7

CORRUGATED FIBERBOARD: – It is the most common distribution container material, the RSC container is the workhorse of the corrugated industry – It is made up of two boards(linerboards) bonded to a fluted or corrugated medium – The facings are made of Kraft paper board – Facings & medium can be made to any standard weight and thickness needed for an application MATERIALS USED IN PACKAGING-8

CORRUGATED FIBERBOARD(Cont’d): – Because of the distribution packaging environment, selection of proper face boards and medium is critical – Corrugated box construction is done based on the rules specified by carrier industry and subjected to quality assurance – A number of box styles are available to meet the specific needs of distribution MATERIALS USED IN PACKAGING-9 PLASTICS IN PACKAGING : – Packaging started with natural materials like leaves, progressed to fabricated materials like containers(wood) & potteries made of glass – Metal cannister, three-piece can and paper & paperboard were added during early 1900 – Use of plastics started after World War II with PE used in packing bread in bags, as paper coating to make it impervious MATERIALS USED IN PACKAGING- 10 PLASTICS IN PACKAGING (Cont’d): – Polyethylene is the leading packaging plastics because of low cost, lightweight, durable, chemically stable, have versatile properties ,easy to make at high speed – Because of similar characteristics, plastics growth in packaging accelerated since 1970 – Packaging is the largest single market for plastics, more than quarter of all plastics used in USA,then building and construction MATERIALS USED IN PACKAGING- 11 PLASTICS IN FOOD PACKAGING: – Early applications of plastics were in food packaging, as films used as flexible packaging, made of single/multiple plastics – As prepared food business grew other forms of packaging, tubes, boxes, trays made their ways to the market place – Milk and fruit juice cartons using PE coated paperboard replaced glass MATERIALS USED IN PACKAGING-12 PLASTICS IN CONSUMER & HEALTH CARE: – Packaging industry, since the 1970’s had adopted plastics as a powerful tool to develop new packaging forms and functions – Need for packaging forms required for highly protective containment of critical consumer and healthcare products in industrialized countries – Plastic trays and blisters were made using thermoforming; vials, pouches, bags were made using other plastics-making process PACKAGING AS A CAREER

WHAT IS IT? HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT? WHERE TO STUDY FOR IT? WHAT IS PACKAGING?

ƒ It is a coordinated system of preparing goods/things for transport, distribution, storage, selling, and use. ƒ It is a complex, dynamic, scientific, artistic, and business functions which contain, protect, preserve, transport, inform, and sell. WHAT IS PACKAGING?

Packaging has many faces. In its more familiar forms it is the box on the grocer’s shelf and the wrapper on the candy bar. It can also be the crate around a machine or a bulk container for chemicals. It is art and science; it is materials and equipment; it is protection, promotion, law, logistics, manufacturing, and materials handling all rolled into one. WHY PACKGAGING?

• Without packages that contain and protect and help us use it, most of the foods and medicines in the market places would not be there. We would not have anything like the choice of foods and medicines that we have & at the price levels which mass packing and distribution make possible. Without packaging, our standard of living would fall far below the present level. WHAT IS PACKAGING ENGG? WHO IS PACKAGING ENGR?-1

• Packaging engineering is the activity in which scientific and engineering principles are applied in solving the problem of functional design, formation, filling, closing, and/or preparation for shipment of containers (regardless of type or kind) or the product enclosed therein. WHAT IS PACKAGING ENGG? WHO IS PACKAGING ENGR?-2 Packaging engineering includes the study of products, packages, materials, containers, structures, methods, machinery, and transportation; it deals with such disciplines as chemistry, mechanics, machine design, materials selection and handling, manufacturing, graphic design and other specialized skills including marketing, Electronic Engineering

Mechanical Chemical Engineering Engineering

Packaging Technology

Chemistry & Mathematics Physics

Packaging Science & Engineering PREPARATION FOR PACKAGING CAREER

• Physics, Mathematics, Material science • Chemistry (light unless involved in new materials development) • Economics • Optional Subjects: marketing, graphic design, communications (writing) PACKAGING? WHERE TO STUDY • Full time Bachelor of Science Degree Programs in packaging: RIT, MSU, Clemson Univ., Rutgers Univ., Indiana St. Univ. • Degrees in engineering and science with specialization in packaging: Cal. Poly Tech, Univ. of Illinois, Texas A&M, Cornell, Univ. of Wisconsin-Stout, Univ. of Florida, Christian Brothers University FIRST PACKAGING ENGIN. PROGRAM IN MID-SOUTH • Christian Brothers University (CBU) is proud to become the first university in the Mid-South to offer packaging engineering (P/E) as part of chemical and mechanical engineering curricula. • At present, there are twelve plus universities in the U.S.A. which offer some form of packaging program. Of these, only five universities offer full scale packaging programs with bachelors degrees SPECIAL BENEFIT OF BEING A PACKAGING ENGINEER

• Because of shortage of packaging engineers, demands for these are heavy in the Mid-South and other parts of USA with salary comparable to other engineering professions • This is a good specialty to have for better job prospects, better than engineering, during tight economy PACKAGING ENGINEERING AT CHRISTIAN BROTHERS

ƒ Students enrolled in chemical, mechanical and other engineering programs can take one introductory course to get acquainted with packaging engineering.They can take two courses and finish a special project to earn Packaging Engineering Certificate. ƒ A new undergraduate management program with packaging concentration is on the way, with easier math requirement