# Corrugation on food cans

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corrugation-on-food-cans/658025>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 10, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corrugation-on-food-cans/658025 "2013-05-10T20:46:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corrugation-on-food-cans/658025/1 "2013-05-10T20:46:29Z")

</div>

I’ve recently started wondering why food cans, of nearly any size, have corrugated sides. Is there a structural reason, is it a manufacturing thing, simply traditional, or what?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corrugation-on-food-cans/658025/2 "2013-05-10T20:54:41Z")

</div>

It helps with the rigidity of the sides and so prevents them getting dented.