● Conditioning: Also called the annealing process, the finished bottles are loaded into a machine called the Annealing Lehr, where they are heated up again until their temperature reaches over 800 degrees. This is to eliminate all the stress that may have built up in the structure. Without conditioning, the glass would shatter at the slightest of touches once allowed to cool.
● Surface Treatment: This is the external treatment that the bottle undergoes with the aim of reducing and preventing abrading, a condition that makes the glass prone to breakages and cracks. Usually, a fine film made of polyethylene is sprayed across the surface of the glass bottle to form a tin oxide coating which prevents the bottles from sticking to each other when they come into contact.
● Internal Treatment: This is a process that involves the addition of an Internal Fliurnation Treatment (IFT) to reinforce the glass further and turn it from Type III to Type II to prevent another defective process called blooming. Here the tin oxide treatment is also applied. Before it begins, the temperatures are reduced to 135 degrees for it to work. Once that’s done, the coating can then be washed off, leaving the glass bottle stronger.
● Quality Inspection: After all is done and the glass bottles have attained the shape and size desired, the final part is to conduct a quality check to ensure that everything has come out ecstasy as required. This process involves things like measuring their weight, checking the dimensions, the transparency, and any other necessary checks for any cracks or discoloration. The process also involves checking wall thickness, damage detection, sealing abilities, base and sidewall scanning, and dimensional analysis.
● Branding: Once the glasses have passed the quality inspection, they can now be branded and packaged or, depending on the request of the client, they can be shipped as they are.
