Graphic Packaging International has conducted extensive product comparison studies to determine how to minimize carton deformation and compression damage in frozen food applications. The research is said to have determined that GPI's SUS coated unbleached kraft out-performs other paperboard substrates and corrugated products.
The company used a special carton profilometry device to measure resistance to carton deformation during a series of freeze/thaw cycles similar to those experienced from the filling line through the distribution chain to the retail freezer case. The results of the experiments were: in identical structural designs, cartons produced from SUS exhibited less peak-to-peak deformation than the same carton produced with recycled freezer grades, and exhibited less welting; and SUS exhibited less peak-to-peak deformation than SBS.
Compression testing pre and post freeze/thaw showed: structurally identical 14pt cartons made from SUS retained 56 per cent of their compression strength, compared with a 47 per cent retention rate for a leading SBS grade. In testing a second structural design in two calipers, cartons produced from 14pt SUS retained 72 per cent of their strength, against 66 per cent retention for 16pt SBS cartons under similar conditions.
Jim Monahan, vp of sales and marketing for North American open market paperboard, comments: "The three-ply construction of SUS folding carton grades enables the product to achieve superior resistance to compression and bulging, with the added benefit of hiding coating flakes in the interior ply."
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