The anti-corrosion agent, a solid material that is coated onto or impregnated into the paper, vaporizes or sublimates gradually at normal ambient temperatures and its vapor quickly permeates throughout the sealed space. The phenomenon by which a solid vaporizes directly without first passing through a liquid stage is called sublimation. A familiar example of a substance that undergoes this process is naphthalene, which is widely used in mothballs. The vaporizing anti-corrosion agent employed in "adpack®" dissolves in the extremely thin film of water that coats the surface of iron or steel and then physically and chemically adheres to the surface of the metal to form an anti-corrosion coating. This coating isolates the metal from the surrounding air, preventing the chemical reaction with oxygen from the air that causes corrosion, and thereby protecting the iron or steel from corrosion.

The anti-corrosion coating produced by "adpack®" has the following characteristics. Because the coating is extremely thin, and its adhesion to the metallic surface is weak, it doesn't cause any change in the appearance of the surface, nor does it result in any other changes such as a reduction in the metal's grounding. As a result, iron or steel products packed in "adpack®" can be used immediately without having to clean the surface first.