Effects of Sinusoidal Vibration Fatigue on Compression Strength of Corrugated Fiberboard Container for Packaging of Fruits

The compression strength of corrugated fiberboard containers for packaging the agricultural products rapidly decreases because of various environmental conditions during distribution of unitized products. Among various environmental conditions, the main factors affecting the compression strength of corrugated fiberboard are absorption of moisture, long-term accumulative load, and fatigue caused by shock and vibration. An estimated rate of damage for fruit during distribution is about 30~40% owing to the shock and vibration. This study was carried out to characterize the durability of corrugated fiberboard containers for packaging the fruits and vegetables under simulated transportation environment. After the packaging freight was vibrated at various experimental conditions, the compression test for the packaging was performed. The compression strength of corrugated fiberboard containers decreased with loading weight and vibration time. The multiple nonlinear regression equation ($R^2$ = 0.9198) for predicting the decreasing rate of compression strength of corrugated fiberboard containers were developed using four independent variables such as input acceleration level, input frequency, loading weight and vibration time.