Green packaging, also known as sustainable packaging, is the use of materials and manufacturing methods for the packaging of goods that has a low impact on both energy consumption and on the environment. As a new type of green packaging materials, molded pulp is widely used in packaging industry. Molded pulp products have a widely range of materials, such as wood pulp, sugarcane pulp, recycled corrugated pulp, recycled newspaper pulp etc. The mechanical properties of molded pulp material are the basis of structural optimum design of the molded pulp products. An attempt were made by this paper on the relationship between Poisson's ratio and fiber structure, molding process and thickness, uniaxial tensile test and digital image correlation method were carried on samples made from wood pulp, bamboo pulp, sugarcane pulp, white mixed pulp, black mixed pulp, recycled corrugated paper pulp, recycled newspaper pulp and corrugated base paper. The fiber structure of the different molded pulp materials was observed by scanning electron microscope. The Poisson's ratio of each sample was analyzed. The result shows the Poisson's ratio of pulp material were related to fiber structure and drying method. Pulp material dried outside mould has smaller Poisson's ratio, while the pulp material dried inside mould has larger Poisson's ratio. SEM images shows that the molded pulp material has layered phenomenon. The outer layer is dense and the inner layer is loose. The research results can provide guidance for the production, design and numerical simulation analysis of molded pulp products.
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