ForMatter/Materials/paper/Corrugated Cardboard (E / B / C / BC flute)
mat_corrugated_cardboard

Corrugated Cardboard (E / B / C / BC flute)

engineered paperboard sandwich — kraft liners + fluted medium · corrugated fiberboard, cardboard, shipping cardboard, double-walled cardboard, single-flute cardboard, moving box, containerboard
highlast updated 2026-04-28

A sandwich of two flat kraft liners and a wavy fluted layer between them, glued at the crests with starch. The flutes are what make the sandwich stiff. A flat sheet of paper bends easily; the corrugated sandwich resists bending across the flutes by an enormous factor for almost no added weight. The model-shop and packaging staple. The first thing every product-design student reaches for when they need volume cheaply and quickly. Foldable, scoreable, cuttable on a laser, gluable with hot-melt or PVA, recyclable into more cardboard.

A composite paperboard with two outer kraft liners (typically 125–337 g/m² each) and a fluted corrugated medium between them, bonded with starch adhesive at the flute tips. Standard flute profiles (in increasing flute height): E (1.2 mm), F (0.6 mm — lightweight), B (3.2 mm), C (4.0 mm — most common single-wall shipping), A (4.7 mm), plus double- and triple-walled (BC, BE, AAA) for heavy goods. Edge crush test (ECT) and burst test (Mullen) are the canonical strength specs; standard single-wall shipping cardboard runs ECT 32 lbf/in. Folds along scored lines, laser-cuts cleanly with smoke extraction, glues with hot-melt EVA / PVA / cyanoacrylate. Recyclable through standard paper streams; recycled content typically 35–100 percent depending on liner.

Mechanical

  • density · kg/m³130
  • edge crush test · lbf/in32
  • burst strength · kPa930
source: FEFCO / TAPPI standards, typical single-wall C-flute shipping board

Sustainability

  • embodied carbon · kg CO₂e/kg0.95
  • recyclabilityvery high — single-stream paper recycling, 7–10 cycles before fiber degrades, then composts
  • biodegradableTrue
  • certificationsFSC, PEFC, SFI, EN 13432 (compostable)
  • localityglobal; large-mill production concentrated in US Pacific Northwest and US Southeast, Canada, Scandinavia, Brazil
source: Editorial estimate from ICE / Granta CES EduPack class databases — industry mean, with cradle-to-gate boundary unless otherwise noted. Embodied carbon for any specific product depends on supplier mix, recycled content, and energy grid; verify against a primary source before using these numbers in a sustainability claim.
visual
warm tan kraft, visible flute pattern at the cut edge, occasional darker fiber inclusions; stamped or printed surfaces show through faintly under light loads
tactile
fibrous and slightly fuzzy on the surface; the flute corrugations are readable through the liner under firm pressure
weight perception
very light
acoustic
the sound of cardboard being cut, scored, or torn — unmistakable, the bedrock soundscape of a model shop or a packing operation

PBR starter values

finish · matte — open for table, JSON, host snippets, downloads

Principled BSDF defaults derived from the sphere matte finish. Reasonable seed for Blender, Substance, Keyshot, Rhino — tune per material. Or grab the whole library at once: ForMaterials library →

# finish:                   matte
albedo                      #b89472
metallic                    0.00
roughness                   0.75
ior                         1.45
transmission                0.00
clearcoat                   0.00
sheen                       0.00
anisotropic                 0.00
copy as JSON 
{
  "albedo": "#b89472",
  "metallic": 0.0,
  "roughness": 0.75,
  "ior": 1.45,
  "transmission": 0.0,
  "clearcoat": 0.0,
  "sheen": 0.0,
  "anisotropic": 0.0
}
Blender 4.x Python 
# Blender 4.x — Principled BSDF
# Corrugated Cardboard (E / B / C / BC flute) · finish: matte
import bpy
mat = bpy.data.materials.new(name="mat_corrugated_cardboard")
mat.use_nodes = True
bsdf = mat.node_tree.nodes["Principled BSDF"]
bsdf.inputs["Base Color"].default_value         = (0.4793, 0.2961, 0.1683, 1.0)
bsdf.inputs["Metallic"].default_value           = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Roughness"].default_value          = 0.750
bsdf.inputs["IOR"].default_value                = 1.450
bsdf.inputs["Transmission Weight"].default_value = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Coat Weight"].default_value        = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Sheen Weight"].default_value       = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Anisotropic"].default_value        = 0.000
KeyShot Python (lux) 
# KeyShot 11+ — lux Python API, Generic material
# Corrugated Cardboard (E / B / C / BC flute) · finish: matte
# Run from Window → Scripting Console
import lux
mat = lux.createMaterial(name="mat_corrugated_cardboard", materialType="Generic")
mat.setProperty("diffuse",      (184, 148, 114))   # 8-bit sRGB
mat.setProperty("metallic",     0.000)
mat.setProperty("roughness",    0.750)
mat.setProperty("indexOfRefraction", 1.450)
mat.setProperty("transparency", 0.000)
mat.setProperty("coatingWeight", 0.000)
Substance pbrMetalRough 
{
  "_format": "Substance Designer / Painter \u2014 pbrMetalRough constants",
  "_about": "Corrugated Cardboard (E / B / C / BC flute) \u00b7 finish: matte",
  "baseColor": {
    "r": 0.4793,
    "g": 0.2961,
    "b": 0.1683
  },
  "metallic": 0.0,
  "roughness": 0.75,
  "ior": 1.45,
  "opacity": 1.0,
  "anisotropyLevel": 0.0,
  "_notes": "Channels listed are the standard Substance pbrMetalRough output. Drop into a Uniform Color node per channel, or as the constant input on a layered stack."
}
glTF 2.0 Metallic-Roughness 
{
  "asset": {
    "version": "2.0",
    "generator": "ForMatter"
  },
  "materials": [
    {
      "name": "mat_corrugated_cardboard",
      "pbrMetallicRoughness": {
        "baseColorFactor": [
          0.4793,
          0.2961,
          0.1683,
          1.0
        ],
        "metallicFactor": 0.0,
        "roughnessFactor": 0.75
      },
      "extensions": {
        "KHR_materials_ior": {
          "ior": 1.45
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}
USD Preview Surface 
# USD Preview Surface — UsdShade.MaterialLook prim attributes
# Corrugated Cardboard (E / B / C / BC flute) · finish: matte
def Material "mat_corrugated_cardboard" {
    token outputs:surface.connect = </mat_corrugated_cardboard/PreviewSurface.outputs:surface>

    def Shader "PreviewSurface" {
        uniform token info:id = "UsdPreviewSurface"
        color3f inputs:diffuseColor = (0.4793, 0.2961, 0.1683)
        float   inputs:metallic     = 0.000
        float   inputs:roughness    = 0.750
        float   inputs:ior          = 1.450
        float   inputs:opacity      = 1.000
        float   inputs:clearcoat    = 0.000
        token   outputs:surface
    }
}
↓ download glTF material
ProcessLaser Cutting · Adhesive Bonding
Used inFood Packaging · Prototype / Concept Model
Substitutes
Kraft Paperboard
Bristol Board
Finishes that suit this material
Calendered paper (smooth / supercalendered) · polished

Second life

repairabilityvery low — replaceable as packaging.
recyclabilityvery high — the highest-recycled paper product worldwide; closed-loop is mature.
disposal pathcurbside paper recycling.
typical longevity2 years (typical)
failure modes
  • water damage (catastrophic)
  • compression-set in the flute
  • crush-failure at over-stack height

Fiber Box Association technical bulletins; ASTM D4727 corrugated-fiberboard standard.

Citations

Further reading