Plastic Corrugated is one of the most common materials used when designing internal dunnage. Plastic Corrugated, looks like cardboard but is made of plastic. These sheets have “flutes” running down the length of the board. Just like in the cardboard world, plastic corrugated comes in many gauges from 2mm up to 14mm. When these sheets are extruded, two types of plastic are used – Polyethylene or Polypropylene. Polypropylene is more commonly used, because it’s a softer plastic – making it easier to bend and fabricate into intricate divider systems. These sheets of plastic can be cut, scored, welded, and bent into any design. It all comes down to the part that is being shipped. That’s the great thing about the internal dunnage – it’s customizable! Anything can be figured out as long as there is enough space inside your container. The plastic sheets can be laminated with special materials to help protect the parts. Laminates add another level of protection to the divider. This is a perfect solution if you are shipping a “Class A” part that can’t get scratched. Laminates can be rolled over the top edge if the dunnage manufacturer is skilled at what they do. This rolled edge will not only help protect the part when it’s being placed into the divider but will also protect the associate’s cuticles when they are reaching into the cell to remove the part. These laminates include Spuntex, Evelon, Brushed Polyester, and Tyvek. When it comes to designing the dunnage, any cardboard design can be converted into a plastic design.
Sometimes when you are making a custom-designed divider system you need more than sheets of plastic. The next most common material is foam. There are so many types of foam that we could probably dedicate an entire blog to just foam types. In a Returnable Packaging system, there are two main types of foam used – PE foam and XLPE foam. By no means is it limited to these types of foams, you can use anything as long as it gets you to a sustainable design. The first type is PE foam or Polyethylene foam. This is probably the type of foam that pops into your head when you hear the word foam. It’s an open-cell foam, meaning it’s constructed of a bunch of little bubbles. PE foam can be cut into any shape to accommodate the part it's holding. Die cutting is a common way of cutting PE foam, but it can also be water jet cut if compound angles are needed. PE foam comes in many densities from a .9 pound, which is very soft and can be crushed in your fingers, all the way up to a 10 pound which is as hard as wood. The densities used depend on the weight of the part being shipped and how it’s held inside the cell. The problem with PE foam is it will scratch your part. If you are shipping something that can’t get scratched then you don’t want PE foam touching your part.
Your solution is XLPE foam aka Crosslink Foam. XLPE foam is very similar to PE foam because it comes in many densities from 2 pounds up to 20 pounds (it might even go all the way to 50 pounds!). The big difference with Crosslink Foam is that it is a closed-cell foam. When you look at it, it looks like rubber; you won’t see little bubbles like in the PE foam. This is what gives it an edge over PE foam. It won’t scratch your product or part inside the divider, even when the part is resting right on top of the foam. If you think about it, the part is constantly moving inside the cell while the truck is driving down the road. You need good materials holding your part or the person on the other end of the trip won’t be a happy customer! The closed cells in this foam are what make it a certified “Class A” protector. This foam can also be cut into any shape or size just like the other materials we mentioned.
