Method: Determination of Water absorptiveness or Soaking time

I. Objective: To provide a standard operating procedure for the determination of water

absorptiveness of corrugated carton.

II. Scope: This method is generally applicable to sized paper, paper board and corrugated board, it
is not applicable for paper of grammage less than 50 g/m2 or embossed paper. It is not suitable
for porous papers such as newsprint or unsized papers such as blotting paper or other papers
having a relatively high water absorptiveness.

III. Principle: The test allows for the evaluation of water absorption by the paper and board. The
water absorptiveness depends on the type of paper or board. The result is presented with a time
index.

IV. Apparatus:

a. Pippete with pippet filler/ Dropper/ Finn-pippet

b. A cup of tape water
c. Tissue paper
d. Anti-cutter
e. Stop watch

V. Procedure:

a. Open the side lock of a carton and spread it on a dry, plane surface.
b. Then, apply water droplet on the surface of paper or board and starts the stop watch as
early as possible. The volume of the water droplet shall be 0.5 to 0.7 ml. (The number of
the water droplet may lay 25 to 40 no’s.)
c. Observe the water droplet region on paper or board for the certain time period based on
standard.
d. When the paper or board starts to absorb water, it turns to darker than actual color.
e. Record the time of water absorption (Note- 4).

VI. Note:

1. If the water droplet affected area remain unsoaked for the certain time period, it will be
considered acceptable in quality on the basis of water absorptiveness.
2. If the water droplet affected area become soaked before or within certain time period and the
number is ≤ 20% of total droplet, it will be considered acceptable in quality on the basis of water
absorptiveness.
3. If the number of soaked area is >20% of total droplet, it will not be considered acceptable in
quality on the basis of water absorptiveness.
4. For the confirmation of complete soaking, remove the excess water from soaked surface by tissue
paper and cut around the soaked area by anti-cutter and remove it from the carton.
VII. Reference:

1. “General issues and the recommended standards for corrugated board and corrugated
board packaging” by Marek Bielecki; Anna Chmielewska-Wurch; Tomasz Damiecke;
Beata Patalan; Maciej Sloma; Slawomir Zdzieblo.