Mechanical properties of paper-pulp packaging

Promoting the application of environmentally friendly packaging such as those made out of paper-pulp requires a basic understanding of the mechanical behaviour of paper-pulp (material) as well as that of packaging (product). In this paper, results from the investigation to determine the mechanical properties of paper-pulp packaging are presented. This includes the determination of tensile and compressive strength of paper-pulp packaging and also to find out whether this material exhibits high variation in the earlier properties. Experiments were conducted on paper-pulp packaging used for the packaging of video recorders. Specimen testing as well as testing of functional elements of packaging (rib separated from packaging support) is explored. In addition to the testing on real world paper-pulp packaging samples, FEM modelling and analysis is carried out using the rib similar to those used in testing. Based on this numerical modelling, effect of change in geometry of rib on its mechanical behaviour is explored. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.