Cardboard is a generic term for heavy paper-based products. The construction can range from a thick paper known as

paperboard Paperboard is a thick paper-based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker (usually over 0.30 mm, 0.012 in, or 12 points) than paper and has certain superior attributes ...

corrugated fiberboard Corrugated fiberboard or corrugated cardboard is a type of packaging material consisting of a fluted corrugated sheet and one or two flat linerboards. It is made on "flute lamination machines" or "corrugators" and is used for making corrugate ...

which is made of multiple plies of material. Natural cardboards can range from grey to light brown in color, depending of the specific product; dyes, pigments, printing, and coatings are available. The term "cardboard" has general use in English and French, but the term cardboard is deprecated in commerce and industry as not adequately defining a specific product. Material producers, container manufacturers,

packaging engineer Packaging engineering, also package engineering, packaging technology and packaging science, is a broad topic ranging from design conceptualization to product placement. All steps along the manufacturing process, and more, must be taken into a ...

s, and

standards organization A standards organization, standards body, standards developing organization (SDO), or standards setting organization (SSO) is an organization whose primary function is developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpr ...

s, use more specific terminology.

Statistics

In 2020, the United States hit a record high in its yearly use of one of the most ubiquitous manufactured materials on earth, cardboard. With around 80 per cent of all the products sold in the United States being packaged in cardboard, over 120 billion pieces were used that year. In the same year, over 13,000 separate pieces of consumer cardboard packaging was thrown away by American households, combined with all paper products and this constitutes almost 42 per cent of all solid waste generated by the United States annually. However, despite the sheer magnitude of paper waste, the vast majority of it is composed of one of the most successful and sustainable packaging materials of modern times - corrugated cardboard, known industrially as corrugated fiberboard.The above graph shows recycling of paper materials.

Types

Various card stocks

Various types of cards are available, which may be called "cardboard". Included are: thick paper (of various types) or pasteboard used for

business card Business cards are cards bearing business information about a company or individual. They are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver's name, company or business af ...

s, aperture cards,

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as woo ...

playing cards A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a f ...

, catalog covers,

binder's board Paperboard is a thick paper-based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker (usually over 0.30 mm, 0.012 in, or 12 points) than paper and has certain superior attribut ...

for

bookbinding Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book of codex format from an ordered stack of ''signatures'', sheets of paper folded together into sections that are bound, along one edge, with a thick needle and strong thread. Cheaper, b ...

scrapbooking Scrapbooking is a method of preserving, presenting and arranging personal and family history in the form of a book, box or card. Typical memorabilia include photographs, printed media, and artwork. Scrapbook albums are often decorated and frequ ...

, and other uses which require higher durability than regular

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distribu ...

Paperboard

Paperboard is a paper-based material, usually more than about ten mils () thick. It is often used for folding

carton A carton is a box or container usually made of liquid packaging board, paperboard and sometimes of corrugated fiberboard. Many types of cartons are used in packaging. Sometimes a carton is also called a box. Types of cartons Folding carto ...

s, set-up boxes, carded

packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a c ...

, ''etc''. Configurations of paperboard include: *

Containerboard Containerboard or corrugated case material (CCM) is a type of paperboard specially manufactured for the production of corrugated board. It includes both linerboard and corrugating medium (or fluting), the two types of paper that make up corruga ...

, used in the production of

. *

Folding boxboard Folding boxboard, also referred to as FBB or by the DIN Standard 19303 codes of GC or UC, is a paperboard grade made up of multiple layers of chemical and mechanical pulp. This grade is made up of mechanical pulp in between two layers of chemical p ...

, comprising multiple layers of chemical and mechanical pulp. *

Solid bleached board Solid bleached board (SBB) or solid bleached sulphate (SBS) is a virgin fibre grade of paperboard. This grade is made purely from bleached chemical pulp and usually has a mineral or synthetic pigment coated top surface in one or more layers (C1S ...

, made purely from bleached chemical pulp and usually has a mineral or synthetic pigment. *

Solid unbleached board Solid unbleached board, also known as SUB, is a grade of paperboard typically made of unbleached chemical pulp. Most often it comes with two to three layers of mineral or synthetic pigment coating on the top and one layer on the reverse side. Re ...

, typically made of unbleached chemical pulp. *

White lined chipboard White-lined chipboard (also referred to as WLC, GD, GT or UD) is a grade of paperboard typically made from layers of waste paper or recycled fibers. Most often it comes with two to three layers of coating on the top and one layer on the reverse si ...

, typically made from layers of waste paper or

recycled Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

fiber Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorporate ...

s, most often with two to three layers of

coating A coating is a covering that is applied to the surface of an object, usually referred to as the substrate. The purpose of applying the coating may be decorative, functional, or both. Coatings may be applied as liquids, gases or solids e.g. Pow ...

on the top and one layer on the reverse side. Because of its

content it will be grey from the inside. *

Binder's board Paperboard is a thick paper-based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker (usually over 0.30 mm, 0.012 in, or 12 points) than paper and has certain superior attribut ...

, a

used in

for making

hardcover A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or o ...

s. Currently, materials falling under these names may be made without using any actual paper. Stack of egg cartons

Corrugated fiberboard

Corrugated fiberboard is a combination of paperboards, usually two flat liners and one inner fluted corrugated medium. It is often used for making corrugated boxes for shipping or storing products. This type of cardboard is also used by artists as original material for sculpting.

Recycling

Most types of cardboard are recyclable. Boards that are laminates, wax coated, or treated for wet-strength are often more difficult to recycle. Clean cardboard (''i.e.,'' cardboard that has not been subject to chemical coatings) "is usually worth recovering, although often the difference between the value it realizes and the cost of recovery is marginal". Cardboard can be recycled for industrial or domestic use. For example, cardboard may be composted or shredded for animal bedding.

History

The material had been first made in France, in

1751 In Britain and its colonies (except Scotland), 1751 only had 282 days due to the British Calendar Act of 1751, which ended the year on 31 December (rather than nearly three months later according to its previous rule). Events January&n ...

, by a pupil of Réaumur, and was used to reinforce playing cards. The term ''cardboard'' has been used since at least 1848, when

Anne Brontë Anne Brontë (, commonly ; 17 January 1820 – 28 May 1849) was an English novelist and poet, and the youngest member of the Brontë literary family. Anne Brontë was the daughter of Maria (born Branwell) and Patrick Brontë, a poor Irish cl ...

mentioned it in her novel, ''

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall ''The Tenant of Wildfell Hall'' is the second and final novel written by English author Anne Brontë. It was first published in 1848 under the pseudonym Acton Bell. Probably the most shocking of the Brontës' novels, it had an instant and p ...

''. The Kellogg brothers first used paperboard cartons to hold their flaked corn cereal, and later, when they began marketing it to the general public, a heat-sealed bag of wax paper was wrapped around the outside of the box and printed with their brand name. This development marked the origin of the cereal box, though in modern times the sealed bag is plastic and is kept inside the box. The Kieckhefer Container Company, run by John W. Kieckhefer, was another early American packaging industry pioneer. It excelled in the use of fiber shipping containers, particularly the paper milk carton.

Examples of different end use

File:Aloha nui cook.jpg, A postcard from 1908 File:NRC Honors Montgomery County Science Fair Students in Rockville, Md. (13537087363).jpg, Posters and display boards at science fair File:Buch gebunden orange.jpg, Hardcover book File:Blue-punch-card-front-horiz.png, Punch card, early digital storage File:Arsexpo- Passe-partout.jpg, Mat used for framing picture File:Archief Kruisherenklooster Maastricht (RHCL)-2.jpg, Corrugated box used for storage of archives File:Carmin Hotel *** - vizitka.jpg, Business cards File:Rotolini.jpg, Fiber tubes for roll of paper File:Puzzle.jpg, Paperboard

jigsaw puzzle A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture. When assembled, the puzzle pieces produce a complete picture. In t ...

References

{{Authority control Paper products