I work stacking grocery pallets for a living. The rule is that cardboard cases/trays of cans make the best base for stacks and should always go on the bottom of pallets, and cardboard boxes, even dense and heavy ones, should go on top of the can layers.
What I’m after is the basic physics of why trays of cans are so much more stable than cardboard boxes. Thanks to anyone who responds!
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Beverage cans are pressurized, so the pressure acts opposite of outside crushing forces in the can, making them more stable. Cylindrical shape is also optimal for evenly distributing the load along the can so there isn’t a single weakpoint on the can that will buckle under load.
As for food cans, they’re not pressurized, but they’re made of a decently thick metal (often times corrugated to give extra rigidity), and again, they’re cylindrical.
Cardboard is relatively weak and non-rigid, therefore and easily buckles under load.
Furthermore, the whole can act as one single structural unit. As you apply load on top of the can, the entire can participates in resisting that load, as opposed to a cardboard box that’s basically a couple of flat pieces of cardboard loosely connected together. Load doesn’t transfer well from one side of the box to the other.
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