Since the 1990s, due to the widespread use of plastic, paper and other materials containers, especially the rapid increase in the use of PET containers, traditional glass containers, encountered a severe challenge. In order to maintain its position in the fierce competition for survival with other material containers, as a manufacturer of glass containers, it is necessary for us to make full use of the advantages of glass containers and continuously develop new technologies that can attract consumers, to make it work. The following is an introduction to the technical development of this issue. A clear, colourless, transparent glass container that blocks ultraviolet rays. The most distinctive feature of glass containers, as distinct from other cans or paper containers, is the transparency with which the contents can be clearly seen. But because of this, the outside light, also very easy to pass through the container and cause content deterioration. For example, the contents of beer or other beverages exposed to the sun for a long time, it will produce strange smell and fade phenomenon. In the content of the deterioration caused by the light, the most harmful is the wavelength of 280-400 nm of ultraviolet. In the use of glass containers, content clearly shows its true color in front of consumers and is an important means of displaying its commodity characteristics. Therefore, users of glass containers, it is very much hoped that there will be a colorless transparent, and can block ultraviolet radiation of the new products. In order to solve this problem, a kind of colorless transparent glass called UVAFlint which can absorb ultraviolet (UVA means absorb ultraviolet, ultraviolet) has been developed recently. It is made by adding metal oxides which can absorb ultraviolet rays to the glass on the one hand, and taking advantage of the complementary effect of color, and then adding some metals or their oxides to make the colored glass fade. At present, commercial UVA glass is generally added Vanadium Oxide (v 2O 5) , cerium oxide (Ce o 2) two metal oxides. Because only a small amount of vanadium oxide is needed to achieve the desired effect, the melting process requires only a special additive feeding tank, which is particularly suitable for small-scale production. The light transmittance of 3.5 mm thickness UVA glass and ordinary glass was randomly sampled at 330 nm wavelength. The results showed that the transmittance of ordinary glass was 60.6% , and that of UVA glass was only 2.5% . In addition, the fading test was carried out by irradiating the blue pigment samples encapsulated in ordinary glass and UVA glass containers with ultraviolet rays of 14.4 j/m2. The results showed that the color residual rate in ordinary glass was only 20% , and almost no fading was found in the UVA glass. The contrast test confirmed that the UVA glass has the function of stopping fading effectively. The sunlight irradiation test on wine bottled with ordinary glass bottle and UVA glass bottle also showed that the former wine had much higher degree of discoloration and taste deterioration than the latter. Second, the Glass Container Pre-label Development, the label is the face of goods, is a sign of different goods, most consumers to judge the value of goods by it. So of course the label has to be both beautiful and eye catching. But for a long time, glass container manufacturers are often troubled by such complicated work as label printing, labeling or field label management. In order to solve this problem, we provide convenience, now some glass container manufacturers will be attached or pre-printed labels on the container, which is called “pre-attached labels. “. In glass containers pre-affixed labels are generally elastic labels, stick labels and direct printing labels, and stick labels and pressure-stick labels and heat-sensitive sticky labels, labels. Pre-label can withstand the canning process of cleaning, filling and sterilization processes are not damaged, and facilitate the recycling of containers, some glass, containers can be broken to prevent debris flying, with buffer performance. The feature of the pressure-adhesive label is that the existence of the label film can not be felt, and only the label content to be displayed can appear on the surface of the container as if by direct printing method. However, its cost is high, although the use of pressure adhesive label slightly increased trend, but has not yet formed a larger market. The main reason for the high price of sticker is that the cost of cardboard substrate used for sticker is high and can not be recycled. To this end, Yamamura Glass Co. , Ltd. is starting research and development is not, with the substrate pressure label. Another more popular is the heat-sensitive Sticky Label, which once heated with good viscosity. After the improvement of the adhesive for the heat-sensitive Label, the surface treatment of the container, and the preheating method, the washing resistance of the label has been greatly improved, and the cost has been greatly reduced, it is used in 300 bottles per minute filling line. Heat-sensitive pre-stick label and pressure-stick label can clearly see the contents of which vary greatly, and it also has the characteristics of low cost, can withstand rubbing without being damaged, and can withstand freezing treatment after sticking. Heat-sensitive adhesive label with a thickness of 38 m PET resin, made, in which coated with high-temperature active adhesive. No abnormal changes were found after the labels were soaked in water at 11 °C for 3 days, pasteurized at 73 °C for 30 minutes and boiled at 100 °C for 30 minutes. The surface of the label can be printed in a variety of colors, or printed on the reverse side, so as to avoid collision during transportation and damage to the printing surface. The use of this pre-label is expected to greatly expand the market demand for glass bottles.
3. Development of glass container coated film. In order to meet the needs of the market, more and more glass container customers have put forward various, multi-functional and small batch requirements on the color, shape and label of the container, such as the color of the container, both requirements can show the appearance of the difference, but also to prevent UV damage to the content. Beer bottles can be Tan, green or even black in order to block out UV rays and achieve a differentiated look. However, in the process of making glass containers, one color is more complex, and the other is a lot of mixed color waste glass is not easy to recycle. As a result, glassmakers have always wanted to reduce the variety of glass colors. In order to achieve this goal, a glass container coated with a polymer film on the surface of the glass container was produced. The film can be made into a variety of colors and appearance shapes, such as ground glass shape, so that the glass can minimize the variety of colors. If the coating is able to absorb UV polymerization film, glass containers can be made colorless transparent, play can clearly see the advantages of the content. The thickness of polymer-coated film is 5-20 M, which does not affect the recycling of glass containers. Because the color of the glass container is determined by the color of the film, even if all kinds of broken glass mixed together, also does not hinder recycling, so can greatly improve the recycling rate, is very beneficial to the protection of the environment. The coated film glass container also has the following advantages: it can prevent the surface damage of the glass bottle caused by collision and friction between the containers, can cover the original glass container, some minor damage, and can increase the compressive strength of the container by more than 40% . Through the simulated collision damage test in the filling production line, it is proved that it can be used safely in the production line of filling 1000 bottles per hour. Especially because of the cushioning effect of the film on the surface, the shock resistance of the glass container during transportation or filling movement is greatly improved. It can be concluded that the popularization and application of coating film technology, together with the lightness of bottle body design, will be an important means to expand the market demand for glass containers in the future. For example, Japan’s Yamamura Glass Company in 1998 developed and produced the appearance of frosted glass coated film glass containers, the experiments of Alkali resistance (immersion in 3% alkali solution for more than 1 hour at 70 °C) , weather resistance (continuous exposure for 60 hours outside) , damage stripping (simulated running for 10 minutes on the filling line) and ultraviolet transmittance were carried out. The results show that the coating film has good properties. 4. The development of ecological glass bottle. The research shows that every 10% increase in the proportion of waste glass in raw materials can reduce the melting energy by 2.5% and 3.5% . 5% of CO 2 emissions. As we all know, with the global shortage of resources and the increasingly serious greenhouse effect, to save resources, reduce consumption and reduce pollution as the main content, the content of environmental awareness of universal attention and concern. Therefore, people will both save energy and reduce pollution to waste glass as the main raw material of glass containers known as “ecological glass bottle. “. Of course, the strict sense of the “ecological glass” , requires the proportion of waste glass accounted for more than 90% . In order to produce high-quality glass containers with waste glass as the main raw material, the key problems to be solved are how to get rid of the foreign matter (such as waste metal, waste porcelain pieces) mixed in the waste glass, and how to eliminate the air bubbles in the glass. At present, the research and low-pressure defoaming technology of using the technology of waste glass powder and low-temperature melting to realize the foreign body identification and elimination have entered the practical stage. The recycled waste glass is undoubtedly mixed in color, in order to obtain a satisfactory color after melting, can be taken in the melting process to add metal oxide, material methods, such as adding cobalt oxide can make glass light green, etc. . The production of ecological glass has been supported and encouraged by various governments. In particular, Japan has taken a more active attitude in the production of eco-glass. In 1992, it was awarded by the World Packaging Agency (WPO) for the production and implementation of “ECO-GLASS” with 100% waste glass as raw material. However, at present, the proportion of “ecological glass” is still low, even in Japan only accounted for 5% of the total volume of glass containers. Glass container is a traditional packing material with a long history, which has been closely related to people’s life for more than 300 years. It is safe to use, easy to recycle, and will not pollute the contents or the glass. However, as mentioned at the beginning of this paper, it is facing serious challenges such as polymer packaging materials, so how to strengthen glass production, make new technology development, give full play to the advantages of glass containers, glass container industry is facing a new issue. I hope that the above-mentioned technical trends, to the industry, the sector to provide some useful reference.
Post time: 11月-25-2020
