Mechanical design and performance testing of corrugated paperboard packaging for the postharvest handling of horticultural produce

Corrugated paperboard is the primary material used in the transportation, distribution and storage of many products, particularly horticultural produce. Corrugated paperboard packages provide protection to packed produce against mechanical loadings at all phases of distribution. These packages filled with produce are exposed to different hazards such as being dropped from height, transportation shocks, compression during stacking and exposure to the weight of other packed produce, all of which can damage produce. This review discusses performance testing of corrugated paperboard packaging, and highlights the manufacturing process and cold chain environment factors affecting the strength of corrugated paperboard packaging. The performance requirements for corrugated paperboard packages include appearance, structural stability and protection of contents. Testing the quality of corrugated paperboard and its various components, maintaining good control of manufacturing operations and environmental factors such as moisture, humidity and temperature are necessary for better understanding the performance of corrugated paperboard packaging. Advances in numerical techniques such as finite element analysis (FEA) offer new prospects and opportunities for replacing tedious, time-consuming and expensive experiments to improve the performance of corrugated paperboard packaging.