Corrugating machines and

its operation
Corrugated paper board manufacture is an important part
of the paper industry
Types of corrugating are
i) Regular corrugated board – one corrugating medium
with two liners
ii) Single lined board – one corrugating and one liner
iii) Double lined board – Two corrugating members with
three liners
iv) Triple wall board – three corrugating medium and four
liners
The standard liners made from heavy weight kraft or jute
Caliper ranges from 0.012, 0.016 or 0.030 inch
Qualities needed for liners are
- Toughness and durability
- Weights of 42 to 90 lb/1000 square foot
- Bursting strength 100 to 150
Bleached liners are used in advertisement field due to
attractive printing quality
Corrugating medium is made of straw, chestnut, kraft, waste
paper or semi chemical pulp
Corrugating medium is about 0.009 inch in caliper
Requirements for good Corrugating medium are
-High degree of stiffness
- Must bend well under high moisture
- Must have uniform caliper and uniform moisture content
Corrugating Machine
Corrugated board is fabricated on special machine
Corrugating machine consists of a set of Corrugating rolls,
glue applicator rolls and a hot plate section
Corrugating medium is preconditioned before entering
Corrugating rolls and further heated at the steam heated
Corrugating rolls
Moist heat supplied by steaming controls the plastic
properties of the corrugating medium during corrugation
Liners are preheated by passing over steam heated about
36” diameter pre heater rolls
Heating is determined by the amount of wrap of paper
around the roll
Direction of wrap around the roll is important
Heat can be applied to the outside of 90% moisture
content liners and moisture can be driven inside where
glue is to be applied
Corrugating rolls are also heated using steam of 130 to
175 psi to produce surface temperature of about 320 to
340o F
Treatment of corrugating medium with moist heat makes
paper soft and pliable to produce uniform corrugations or
flutings
It also prevents sticking of the paper to the corrugating
rolls
On leaving the corrugating rolls the corrugated medium
fluffs out to meet a glue applicator roll
Applicator roll applies adhesive to one side of the paper
Amount of pluffing out is controlled by long metal strips
Proper setting of fingers required to prevent damage to
flutes and poor adhesive application
Immediately after adhesive application first liner is brought
in to contact with the glued side and high pressure is applied
for a fraction of second to set the adhesive
The board obtained is called single face
For double faced manufacture it moves to an elevator and
collects in folds to provide continuous feed for double backer
glue station
Adhesive applied on to the flutes on the other side of
corrugating medium and second liner applied in 5 to 30
seconds
Combined board enters hot plate section and held against
puatens by means of heavy belts
Setting of the adhesive on the double back side takes place
at this point and excess moisture is driven from the board
At the end the board is slit and flap scored
Major points to be checked and controlled on the
corrugating machine include
-Heating system
-Corrugating roll system
- Finger bar
-Machine line up from roll stands through hot plate
section(keep paper centered belting)
-Glue roll speed
Major sources of trouble are
i) Paper components too wet or too dry
ii) Improper heat balance on the machine
iii) Misalignment, cross pull or other mechanical stresses
(prevent firm and continuous contact with adhesive)
iv)Moisture saturated or impervious belts
v) Dirty glue rolls
vi) Improperly prepared adhesive
Moisture content of the glue board is important as it affects
- Ink receptivity
- Crush resistance
- Dimensional stability
Moisture can be controlled by
- Preheating the paper liner before corrugating
- Controlling the amount of adhesive applied on corrugating
machine