CPULD’s Corrugated Packaging Materials Lab purchased a new piece of equipment this summer! It is an L&W Billerud-type pneumatic cutter used for making straight and parallel-sided samples specifically for the Edge Crush Tests (ECT) conducted in the lab. This cutter can make 25 mm samples for the ISO 3037 test, ensuring perfect parallel cuts to have straight edges (within 0.1 mm).

The high level of accuracy provided by this cutter is vital to ensure proper material evaluation. Edge Crush Tests measure the ability of corrugated boards to resist crushing when loaded perpendicularly to the flute structure. Putting corrugated materials through this crush resistance testing helps CPULD instruct its clients on how to better design the board itself and packaging in general. This way, when their packaging experiences edge crush forces, it has the greatest strength possible to resist any damages.

The Corrugated Lab has been conducting ECT tests since its inception, but this equipment will allow for faster turnaround times. The accuracy that was previously ensured by technicians’ careful preparations can now be done quickly by this equipment. A raw sample is placed against the backstop and the handle is pushed. The pneumatically driven cutter head, with its two knives, cuts the samples along the top and bottom edges in two parallel straight lines. The two knives are fully guided to ensure an accurate cutting result. Sharp knives are of great importance to the end result; therefore, the cutter comes with a built-in counter. This counter helps monitor knife-wear as it’s known how many samples can be cut before the blades dull.

This equipment joins a series of specialized cutters that CPULD’s Corrugated Packaging Materials Lab has available for testing samples preparation.

Photo 1. Putting in corrugated board to be cut into ECT test samples by the pneumatically driven knives in the new sample cutter.

Photo 1. Putting in corrugated board to be cut into samples by the pneumatically driven knives in the new sample cutter.
Image 2. Putting in corrugated board to be cut into ECT test samples by the pneumatically driven knives in the new sample cutter.

Photo 2. Showing the smaller, highly-precise, rectangular samples needed for ECT testing.

Photo 2. Showing the smaller, highly-precise, rectangular samples needed for ECT testing.
Image 3. Showing the smaller, highly-precise, rectangular samples needed for ECT testing.