Effects of perforation design on corrugated fiberboard panel compression

Abstract An investigation on the effects of perforation design on compression behaviour was conducted on L70C corrugated fiberboard panels. A two-level factorial design of experiments was used to examine the effect of four perforation design parameters. This study differs from prior work in that the location of perforation lines is allowed to vary according to the design parameters, while the perforation style is kept constant. The perforated panel designs were cut from commercially manufactured containers using a laser cutter. Panel compression tests were carried out with five replicates of each design. Statistical ANOVA tests were done examining peak loads, compression at peak load and panel stiffness and their variance for the perforated panel designs. There were significant differences in peak load and compression at peak load results between perforated panel designs. The area enclosed by perforation relative to the panel area showed an inverse relationship with peak load and compression at peak load. Regression analysis showed three of the design parameters have a significant influence on peak load and compression at peak load.