When you look at a piece of corrugated cardboard, how much thought do you give to the adhesive? The answer is probably not much. But the adhesive is what holds corrugated materials together, and in most cases, that adhesive is starch adhesive. The properties of this type of adhesive make it a perfect choice for the corrugating process and help to create a better-finished product.
What is Starch Adhesive?
Starch is a white powder that is derived from parts of plants like potatoes, rice, wheat, corn and tapioca. In its powdered form, it has a variety of household uses, many of which involve laundry. When is added to water and cooked to a temperature of 180 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit, it dissolves into the water. The result is a viscous fluid with adhesive properties.
Advantages and Properties of Adhesives Made From Starch
Starch creates a very versatile adhesive that can be adjusted to your needs. It can be used at room temperature or heated up to as much as 140 degrees, with each different temperature creating different viscosities and adhesion characteristics. One of the more popular forms is a thicker paste. In all of its forms, it is particularly effective in adhering to paper products.
Some of starch adhesives’ distinct advantages over other adhesives include the fact that they are very economical, eco-friendly and renewable. They are easy to clean up, as well.
Starch in the Corrugating Process
The corrugating process itself involves making a sandwich out of paper, with the “Bread” being thicker liner board and the filler being thinner fluting medium. Big rolls of paper are fed into a corrugator machine, which subjects the paper to heat and steam and the paper for the fluting medium goes through rollers to create its wavy shape.
The starch adhesive may be injected from a reservoir, or it may be mixed in part of the corrugator machine. In either case, the adhesive is applied to the tips of the flutes and the fluted material gets attached to one of the liner boards. The outer liner is then attached in a similar fashion, and the corrugated material is pressed together and then cut to the desired size and shape.
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