Prediction of box failure from paper data for asymmetric corrugated board

The well-known McKee formula was derived in 1963 for symmetric fluting constructions. This paper presents investigations showing the influence of asymmetric properties, either geometric or concerning the elastic moduli. Paper properties of the base papers used are taken to calculate the panel properties of corrugated boards. From these results, the box failure is predicted. To do this, a model approximating the corrugated medium by triangles is presented. With this assumption, the bending stiffness of corrugated board, no matter how many flutes, can be predicted from paper data. Machine direction and cross direction are treated separately. The theoretical considerations are verified by measuring paper parameters such as short compression test (SCT), thickness, and bending stiffness, as well as edge compression test (ECT) and bending stiffness of corrugated board and box compression test (BCT) of the boxes. It can be stated that the prediction of using paper data instead of corrugated board data may lead to even better prediction results, as the measuring of bending stiffness at the board may sometimes be influenced by sampling inconveniences. Finally, thickness of the used base papers, as well as thickness of the manufactured board, appear to be the main influencing parameters. The McKee formula is robust enough to be applied for asymmetric corrugated board as well.