Corrugated box photo printing

"Centralized board making and decentralized box making" is an effective division of labor in the corrugated box industry. Thirty years ago, there were similar methods abroad. Since the formalization of corrugated box industry in the seventies in Australia, three major companies have been formed. All three companies can make paper, provide raw materials for the manufacture of corrugated boxes, and have cartons in each state. The Australian Paper Company, which is part of the Amko Group, is the only paper company with a large forest area. The company not only supplies original wood pulp kraft cardboard to all carton factories, but also uses original wood pulp and waste pulp mixes to make linerboard and corrugating medium. The other two large companies all have forests and also have equipment and technology for the production of recycled pulp. Recycled pulp, or a certain proportion of the original wood pulp, can also be made into linerboard and corrugating medium.

It can be said that most of the corrugated cartons and cartons are produced by these large companies. Some small companies have almost no place in the market. It is also possible to survive by buying cardboard materials from one of the major companies and performing die-cutting, creasing, printing and other services. Because the Australian Standards Association has published standards for corrugated board and paper. Standards have clear rules on the side pressure, flat pressure, bursting resistance, and the minimum degree of internal and external permeability of corrugated cardboard. The method of measuring cartons is more accurate. The process of a small company simply does not reach this level.

The quality of linerboard varies from country to country. In Australia, there are original wood pulp kraft jams, and also paper pulp made from waste pulp, blended pulp, or linerboard with some decorative effect on the surface. Cartons are usually formed by bonding. Sealing using hot glue or cold glue, but also sealed with tape, rarely used nail sealing. Corrugated boxes are mainly A, B, C, or E, and rarely use double corrugations. Double corrugated, or triple corrugated, are generally used for heavy-duty cartons.

In the printing of corrugated boxes, rubber stamping and rubber roller printing were used in the past. Now, aniline printing, which is mainly printing on photosensitive resin plates, has taken a clear advantage. More and more people have realized the importance of patterns and colors. For corrugated cartons, it is necessary to play a protective role in the transport packaging, but also as a sales package, the growing demand for display effects, so the decoration requirements are getting higher and higher. Some manufacturers have a pre-printed version of the photo, and then on the corrugated box. It has now been developed to allow direct photographic printing on corrugated cardboard.

This is because the surface of the corrugated box is not yet satisfactory. Moreover, the corrugated board at the time of printing is subjected to excessive pressure from the printing roller, impairing the original performance. Therefore, carton vendors are continuing to look for new ways and new ways. Pre-extensive lithographic printing on copperplate paper or offset paper, and then the printed copperplate or offset paper is laminated on the surface of the corrugated cardboard before the cardboard is die-cut. E-type cartons using this method have been widely used for display and retail packaging of many products. Moreover, B-cardboard cartons and cartons, which combine transportation and sales, are becoming more and more popular.

Alternatively, the surface of the linerboard to be used as the outer layer of the corrugated carton is first printed on a high-speed flexographic printer and then rewinded. This type of printed paper roll can be placed on a corrugating machine and bonded with corrugated paper and inner linerboard into corrugated cardboard, and can also be sold to other cartons.

The more advanced method is to print directly on corrugated boxes and print beautifully colored photos. This method must be effective and technically demanding.

The three methods, which one to choose, must combine the costs and effects to make a decision. Printing and rewinding and bonding corrugated cardboard on a corrugating machine is more costly than printing directly on corrugated boxes, but it is cheaper than compounding onto corrugated cardboard after lithographic printing on copperplate paper. Printing directly on the corrugated board will damage the compressive strength of the corrugated box, so to achieve the same requirements of the carton, the use of pre-printing method can choose a lower gram of cardboard, saving the material. Therefore, the total cost is generally relatively close.

The performance of the carton is mainly considered as the requirement of the transport package, and the aesthetic sense of the decor is mainly to be paid attention to as the sales package, or both. Focus on which aspects to consider in advance.

In Europe, preprinted cartons account for approximately 10-12% of all corrugated cartons, with annual growth rates varying. Australia's preprinted cartons account for approximately 15 percent of all corrugated cartons. In other words, each year, nearly 90,000 tons of preprinted cartons are produced, and each major manufacturer is expected to share 9,000 tons. Preprinted cartons are the development direction of the corrugated box industry. Many manufacturers have already introduced preprinted equipment and put it into production.

Of course, improving process technology is also an important approach. Due to the continuous improvement of the process level, direct printing on the surface of white or monochrome corrugated cardboard sometimes achieves the same effect as preprinting. The artist's skill can also reproduce the original treasures on the surface of the corrugated board that needs to be printed.

Source: Shanghai Packaging