Time-dependent, stochastic failure of paper and box

Abstract Time-dependent, stochastic failure is most common in practical situations where paper and board are used, such as web breaks and box failure. A theoretical treatment has been presented, starting from Coleman’s stochastic failure model to the models with structural hierarchy. Creep failure data of box and board published in the literature were analysed from the light of the proposed theoretical model. The results showed that the distribution of life time (not only mean life time) of corrugated boxes changes very sensitively with loading and environmental conditions. Generally the coefficient of variation varied from 6% to 90%. Another important parameter, the load sensitivity of damage growth also varied from 1.7 to 27. Such enormous variation of the key parameters is not a mere fluctuation of experimental condition, but represents the very nature of timedependent, stochastic failure. The stochastic failure model presented provides a framework for analyzing experimental data as well as for predicting life time distributions under general fluctuating loading conditions other than creep.