Papers and boards

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Types of papers and boards and their uses

Papers and boards are formed from wood pulp, which comes from trees. This squishy wood pulp is rolled out into thin sheets in paper mill factories to form the papers and boards that we use.

Paper

Papers are made from . Their is measured by their weight, in grams per square metre (gsm) - the thinner the paper the lower the gsm.

Paper	Physical properties	Working properties
Cartridge paper - used for drawing	Thick, textured, rough	Expensive and opaque, used for ink and watercolour
Tracing paper - used for developing ideas, to trace ideas from one sheet to another	Translucent (see-through), smooth	Shiny, takes pencil well
Copier paper - used for inkjet and laser printers to print from a computer	Thin, lightweight, bleached paper	Takes colour well, readily available, can jam printer mechanisms

Paper	Cartridge paper - used for drawing
Physical properties	Thick, textured, rough
Working properties	Expensive and opaque, used for ink and watercolour

Paper	Tracing paper - used for developing ideas, to trace ideas from one sheet to another
Physical properties	Translucent (see-through), smooth
Working properties	Shiny, takes pencil well

Paper	Copier paper - used for inkjet and laser printers to print from a computer
Physical properties	Thin, lightweight, bleached paper
Working properties	Takes colour well, readily available, can jam printer mechanisms

A pencil sketch of a design on tracing paper. — Image caption,
Tracing paper

Board

Board thickness is measured in microns or grams per square metre (gsm) - the thinner the card the lower the microns or gsm.

Board	Physical properties	Working properties
Corrugated card - used for packaging electrical products (absorbs impact) or hot food (good insulator)	Paper bonded to the outside	Corrugations make it strong, protective and insulating
Solid white board - used for model making, packaging, cosmetic products	Smooth on both sides	Stiff, can be cut or scored
Folding box board - used for packaging food products, eg cereal boxes	Made of three layers - a printable top surface, an unbleached centre layer and a bleached inside layer	Good for scoring without splitting, accepts print well, not as strong as solid white board.

Board	Corrugated card - used for packaging electrical products (absorbs impact) or hot food (good insulator)
Physical properties	Paper bonded to the outside
Working properties	Corrugations make it strong, protective and insulating

Board	Solid white board - used for model making, packaging, cosmetic products
Physical properties	Smooth on both sides
Working properties	Stiff, can be cut or scored

Board	Folding box board - used for packaging food products, eg cereal boxes
Physical properties	Made of three layers - a printable top surface, an unbleached centre layer and a bleached inside layer
Working properties	Good for scoring without splitting, accepts print well, not as strong as solid white board.

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Material categories and properties - EdexcelPapers and boards