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CHARACTERISTICS OF GLASS
Lesson 5
CHARACTERISTICS OF GLASS
5.1 Introduction
5.1.1 What is glass?
5.1.2 Approximate composition of glass
5.2 Characteristics of Glass Containers
5.3 Types of Glass Containers
5.4 Glass Container Production
5.4.1 Glass container forming process
5.5 Considerations for Selection of Glass Containers
5.1 Introduction
Glass generally refers to hard, brittle, transparent material, such as those used for
windows, many bottles, or eyewear. Glass is one of the most important packaging
materials because of its high barrier and see-through properties. In the technical sense,
glass is an inorganic substance formed from a mixture of sand (73%), sodium oxide
(13%), and calcium oxide (12%), with a proportion of broken glass or culler (15 to 30%
of total weight). Many glasses contain silica as their main component and glass former.
Glass is a mixture in which all the constituent atoms have been persuaded by heating to
line up in to a random but rigid net wall in which each silica atom is linked to ‘4’ oxygen
atoms and then to other silica atoms, both atoms of sodium and calcium distributed in
holes in the network.
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Opal – Fluorine
The principal raw materials required for manufacture of glass are sand lime stone and
soda ash. Screen printing, ceramic spray and plastic coating are used for decoration or
printing on the glass.
Glass containers have several characteristics that make them ideal for food and
beverage packaging:
2. They are inert and do not react with or migrate into food products.
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10. They are perceived by the customer to add value to the product.
11. They are rigid and allow stacking without container damage.
1. Higher weight and hence higher transportation costs than other types of
packaging containers.
5. Permeability to UV light.
Commonly used glass containers are bottles, jars, tumblers and jugs, carboys, vials, and
ampoules.
1. Bottles account for the bulk of glass containers. They are made in various
shapes and sizes (from 100 ml to 4 lit) and are characterized by a round neck that
is much narrower than the body. This facilitates pouring of contents and allows
attachment of suitable closures such as screw-type or snap-on caps or cork plugs.
Fruit juices and drinks like flavoured/sterilized flavoured milk, milk beverages etc.
are often packaged in bottles. The glass bottles used in Dairy industry are heat
resistant bottles. But, they can withstand 50°C temperature difference during
heating and only 30°C temperature difference during cooling, which is important
during in-bottle sterilization of milk.
2. Jars are wide mouthed bottles with no neck, and this affords easy access to the
product. They are used for liquid, viscous, solid, and semisolid products such as
fruit pieces, sauces, and tomato pastes. They are closed in a similar manner to
bottles, but with larger closures.
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3. Tumblers are similar to jars but without a neck and a “finish” for the end
closure. They are shaped like a drinking glass and are used for such products as
jams and jellies.
4. Jugs are large sized bottles with carrying handles. They are used to package
wine and institutional, industrial, and household products.
5. Carboys are large globular wicker-covered glass bottles for holding acids or
other corrosive liquids.
6. Vials and ampoules are small, thin-walled glass containers. They are mainly
used in the pharmaceutical industry for drugs and in the food industry for small
quantities of very expensive ingredients, such as flavors.
7. Food products packed in glass: Baby foods, malted milk foods, sterilized
flavoured milk, beer, soft drinks, meat/fish products, fruits and vegetable
products.
Broadly, modern glass container factories are three-part operations: the batch house, the
hot end, and the cold end. The batch house handles the raw materials; the hot end
handles the manufacture, the furnaces, annealing ovens, and forming machines; and the
cold end handles the product-inspection and packaging equipment.
The blow and blow method: The glass first is blown from below, into the
blank moulds, to create a parison, or pre-container. The parison is then
flipped over into a final mould, where a final blow blows the glass out, in to
the mould, to make the final container shape.
The press and blow method: The parison is formed with a metal plunger,
which pushes the glass out, into the blank mould. The process then
continues as before, with the parison being transferred to the mould, and the
glass being blown out into the mould.
3. Specific amounts of molten glass or gobs are shaped in a parison mold by the
blow-and-blow process or the press-and-blow process.
4. The glass is then annealed at ~ 540°C to remove stresses and cooled under
carefully controlled conditions to prevent distortion or fracturing.
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6. Both processes start with the gob falling, by gravity, and guided, through
troughs and chutes, into the blank moulds.
2. Other important factors in selecting a glass container for food are its colour
which can influence the type of light reaching the food and its ability to resist
thermal shock. Some glasses cannot withstand sudden changes in temperature i.e.
filling a hot product into a container and then plunging it into cold water. Special
glasses are available for this purpose.
3. Though total quantity of glass used is steadily increasing, its market share in
packaging has been diminishing due to the entry of newer and cheaper materials
like plastics.
5. Recent developments in West have given rise to light weight scratch resistant
glass bottles and researches are on for making unbreakable bottles.
6. Novel features like vacuum ring; press-on and twist-off lug caps are being
increasingly used.
8. The economic advantage of the returnable glass bottle as in case of soft drinks
is still unbeatable.
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DT-9
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