Containerboard

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Containerboard, also referred to as CCM (corrugated case material), is a type of paperboard specially manufactured for the production of corrugated board. The term encompasses both linerboard and corrugating medium (or fluting), the two types of paper that make up corrugated board. Since containerboard is made mainly out of natural unbleached wood fibers it is generally brown, although its shade can vary depending on the type of wood, pulping process, recycling rate and impurities content. For certain boxes that demand good presentation white bleached pulp or coating is used on the top ply of the linerboard that goes outside the box.

Production of containerboard is the highest among all kinds of paper in the world, with more than 100 million tons per year. It is made in specialized paper machines out of virgin as well as recycled fibers. Linerboard made of virgin pulp is called kraftliner, whereas recycled linerboard is named testliner. Corrugating medium may likewise be recycled medium, called wellenstoff in Europe, or virgin, which is called semichemical medium for the type of pulp used in its production. The borderlines of these categories become a little blurred, however, when virgin and recycled fibers are used in making one paper, for instance, with a 60/40 mix.

At the end of the manufacturing process containerboard is cut into rolls of a continuous sheet of paper, which will be later unwinded in the corrugator machine to make the corrugated board. A typical roll can have a width of 2.5 mt and a diameter of 1.45 mt, weighing 3 tons. It is not uncommon to see a truck in a road loaded with many containerboard rolls.