| 106 Honeycomb paper pallets, nonreversible type, manufactured by Eco Duro Inc. and L & F Inc. were compression tested in Distribution Dynamics Lab of School of Packaging. 98 Pallets had footprint of 48'' X 4''. Deck variable were: Material (Basis weight 42 lbs, 69 lbs and 90 lbs). Cell sizes variation was 7/16'', 3/8'', and 1/2''. Deck thickness tested was 7/8'', 1'', 1 & 3/16'', and 1 & 1/4''. Stringer variables included---Material (Brown colored form-board, white colored chip-board, and tubes made from recycled Kraft paper that are spirally wound). Thickness of stringer varied from 0.08'', 0.1'', 0.12", 0.16'' and 0.2''. Stringer stuffing's varied from fully stuffed to 3 blocks stuffing, tubes, wrapped blocks and tube blocks. Some of the pallets were conditioned at 90% relative humidity and 90 degrees F for 24 hours. The testing followed a modified ASTM D-1185, "Standard Test Methods for Pallets and related structures employed in Materials handling and shipping", test protocol for paper pallets. The pallets were evaluated with flexible and rigid load on Lansmont Model 1S2-30TTC at room temperature. For half an inch deflection the values for decks range from 1400 to 1800 lbs and for stringers between 14000 to 23000 lbs at 72 F and 50% RH. Loss in strength of decks and stringers is about 20% and 24% respectively after conditioning at 90 F and 90% RH for 24 hours period. |
