Surface engineering in the glass container industry

The glass container industry takes advantage of surface engineering technologies to enhance the product value and to aid the manufacturing process. The glass container has its mechanical, operational and even decorative properties enhanced by a range of coating technologies. These are employed to enable glass to remain competitive in a market which also contains plastic and metal packaging materials. To manufacture glass containers an aggressive hot material must be pressed and blown into a complex geometrical form while attempting to retain a pristine surface. This places considerable demands upon the form tooling which must also remove thermal energy in a controlled manner from the glass. Adhesion of the glass and tool wear must be prevented to maintain product quality. Although surface engineering technologies are currently employed considerable potential for coating development exists.