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The essential ingredient to manufacturing corrugated board is the flute. This internal layer comes in many different sizes, also known as flute profiles. To help you choose the best size for your boxes, here’s a summary of the most common flute types and their uses.
What is a flute?
Fluting is what makes corrugated board special – and different to cardboard. It’s the wavy layer that is sandwiched between flat cardboard to provide strength, weight capacity and rigidity to your box.
Common flute profiles
Where flutes describe the wavy board in general, flute profiles refer to the different sizes available to you. There are many different flute profiles to choose from. Here are some of the most common:
E Flute
This flute is the baby of the family at just 1.5mm thick. It is commonly used for die cut boxes in eCommerce, POS displays and pizza boxes. One of the top benefits to this flute profile is the excellent print quality – you can really show off your brand in great style. This makes it a strong alternative to traditional paperboard cartons for fragile items such as cosmetics, ceramic or glass products.
D Flute
At 2mm thick, the D flute is a best of both worlds option – tough like B flute but light and space-saving like E. It’s great for retail packaging, food and shelf-ready packaging, die cut inserts and POS displays. We also love using D flute for online retail boxes because of its great print quality. The crisp, sharp folds ensure your printing shows minimal flute lines for a truly impressive box.
B Flute
Originally developed to package canned goods, B flute is a solid all-rounder. At 3mm thick it’s easy to manufacture in both regular and die cut cartons. You’ll often find this flute used for POS displays and inner packing components like pads and partitions. A top reason it’s used for POS displays is the nice smooth finish this flute achieves with printed designs.
C Flute
When it comes to shipping, C flute is the hero. It’s the standard option for most RSC boxes and is a feature of supply chains around the world. At 4mm thick, this flute is great for stacking, strength and crush resistance. It’s often used to package glass products, dairy products and furniture – but the options are truly endless.
BC Flute
The BC flute is an example of a double wall box where different flute profiles are used to provide extra strength. At 7mm thick, this is the tough all-rounder – combining the strength and flexibility of both B and C flute types. It’s an excellent choice for shipping when you need more protection or for stacking heavy items.
Design your own digitally printed boxes
With Echo Boxes Online, it’s easy to design custom packaging boxes that help your brand stand out. Our self-service platform includes free design templates for all the most popular box styles.
When it comes time to print, our flatbed corrugated digital printer does all the hard work. It handles crisp four-colour printing onto uncoated cardboard at great speed. How fast? Up to a full pallet of boxes in just one hour.
Order online and we’ll have your boxes ready for pickup or delivery in just 7 working days.