Cold Corrugation: What It Is, How It Works, and Why It Matters

Cold corrugation is a method of manufacturing corrugated board that does not use heat or steam. Instead, the fluted medium is mechanically formed and bonded to linerboard using ambient-temperature adhesives and pressure, eliminating the need for heated platens, steam systems, or thermal infrastructure.

Cold corrugation exists to reduce energy consumption, simplify plant infrastructure, and enable corrugated board production in facilities where traditional heated corrugators are impractical or inefficient.

What is Cold Corrugation?

Cold corrugation is a steam-free corrugating process in which:

• The fluting medium is shaped mechanically
• Adhesives cure at ambient temperature
• Bonding is achieved through pressure rather than heat
• No steam boiler or heated sections are required

Unlike conventional corrugation, cold corrugation removes thermal energy from the formation process.

How cold Corrugation works

The cold corrugation process follows four core steps:

1. Mechanical fluting
   Paper  is formed into a corrugated profile using profiled rollers, without heating.
2. Ambient adhesive application
   A cold-curing adhesive is applied to the flute tips at room temperature.
3. Pressure bonding
   Linerboard is bonded to the fluted medium using controlled pressure rather than heat.
4. Immediate usability
   Because no warm-up or cool-down is required, production can start and stop instantly.

The result is corrugated board produced without steam, ovens, or heated platens.

Why cold Corrugation Exists

Conventional corrugation systems were designed for centralized, high-volume mills where steam and energy infrastructure are central to the process.

Cold corrugation was developed to address limitations of that model, including:

• High energy consumption
• Dependence on steam boilers
• Large physical footprint
• Long start-up and shut-down cycles
• High capital and operating costs

By eliminating heat and steam, cold corrugation enables lower-carbon, decentralized, and more flexible corrugated board production.

Who uses Cold Corrugation?

Cold corrugation is particularly suited to:

• Sheet plants seeking reduced energy costs
• Box manufacturers wanting independence from board suppliers
• Facilities without steam or boiler infrastructure
• Manufacturers targeting low-carbon packaging
• On-demand or decentralized production environments

It is not intended to replace ultra-high-volume mill corrugators, but to serve applications where efficiency, footprint, and energy use matter most.

What Is a Cold Corrugator?

A cold corrugator is a corrugating machine designed to produce corrugated board without using heat or steam.

Cold corrugators rely on:

• Mechanical forming of the fluting medium
• Ambient-curing adhesives
• Electrically driven systems
• Pressure-based bonding

They differ fundamentally from heated single facers or traditional corrugator lines.

Cold Corrugation in Practice

The Interpac 1250 is a commercial implementation of cold corrugation, which uses a steam-free, electrically driven process to manufacture corrugated board at ambient temperature.

This approach removes the need for:

• Steam boilers
• Heated platens
• Gas or thermal oil systems

while maintaining consistent board quality.

Frequently Asked Questions

Summary

Cold corrugation is a no-heat, no-steam method of producing corrugated board using mechanical forming, pressure bonding, and ambient-temperature adhesives.

It exists to reduce energy use, simplify infrastructure, and enable efficient corrugated board production where traditional heated corrugators are not optimal.

‍