Development and manufacture of glass bottles

“SLODES” offers services for the design of glass bottles, as well as control over all stages of bottle production.

Manufacture of glass bottles

Bottle Production

The production of glass bottles begins with the careful design of the bottle. This is followed by design documentation and the construction of a mold for the industrial manufacture of bottles.

Based on market research data and the given characteristics of the product as well as the customer’s wishes and specifics of the manufacture of the glass product, our industrial and graphic designers create and design the look of the bottle, and then implement a 3D graphics presentation.

If the appearance meet their stated objectives, a mathematical model describing all the features of the mass and the volume of production is drawn up, taking into account all the specific parameters of the future product. Designing bottles requires preparing a complete set of design documentation necessary for the manufacture of glass containers including forming and tooling equipment (mold sets) that will be used for industrial production in glass-forming machines.

Mold sets

When the bottle is completed, production can be implemented. In order for a particular product to be produced by machine from glass design, manufacturing tooling of mold sets must take place, taking into account all the fine features necessary for the future appearance of the bottles.

Mold sets are required for the formation of exclusive glass containers (glass jars, glass bottles) of different shapes and sizes. The mold is fit on rotary and sectional glass forming machines.. A mold is made from high-strength gray cast iron. A mold is made on the basis of the design documentation, which in turn is developed on the basis of technical drawings and computer-generated 3-D modeling of the product.

Available bottle sizes include 0.33, 0.5, 0.7 and 1 liter

Often one and the same product or line of beverages are bottled in containers of various sizes, for example a 1 liter bottle and a 0.5 liter bottle. In this case, it is necessary to manufacture one model for different glass bottles of various proportions. Naturally, a one-liter glass bottle cannot simply be an enlarged copy of a smaller bottle – when the size is changed, the appropriate adjustment of the size ratio of the product is necessary. Our designers professionally and efficiently solve this problem. Our portfolio section for the design of glass bottles includes numerous samples, including: 1 liter, 0.7, 0.5 and 0.33 liters.See more in out portfolio in Glass Bottles section.

Glass bottle production

First we utilize a special prepared blended mixture. Its basis is quartz sand mixed; soda ash is required for the uniform melting of the sand, limestone and clay to give the future glass durability and strength. Sodium sulphate and potash accelerate the process of glass formation, allowing for reduced heating temperature. They remove the gas bubbles from the mixture that are formed when the mixture is heated. Initially, all glass has a green color due to the iron oxide present in the quartz sand. However, experience in the design of vodka bottles has shown that the most successful products are transparent ones; therefore, cerium oxide, selenium or cobalt are added to the mixture for the bleaching effect. The refractive indices may be further improved by the utilization of lead oxide. Crushed shards of used glass products are then added to the mixture. High quality and accurate mixing proportions are provided by the modern dosing mixing lines.

The glass is then cooked in a glass furnace at temperatures between 1200-1500 degrees C. Afterwards, the molten amorphous mixture is sent through the feeder channels into the glass-forming machines; it is cut with scissors of a drip- forming machine into cylindrical droplets – future bottles that are directed to parison molds, where the neck and the outer shell of the bottles (parison molds) are created; compressed air is then used to create the final look in blow molds. The bottles are afterwards directed for open-flame heat treatment in annealing furnaces, which allows us to extend the cooling time, thereby reducing the residual heat and preventing cracks resulting from temperature difference.

Each bottle is checked by our Quality Control Department for defects – cracks and bubbles. All controlled parameters of the stopper and the geometry of the body of the bottle are checked against the existing standards and the drawing. The finished products are packed in pallets and are ready to be shipped to the customer’s warehouse or to be prepared for decorative design.

Bottle design is a creative process, but it is based on a thorough knowledge of all stages of production and manufacturing variability. For each project we combine the efforts of a variety of specialists that allows us not just to offer the customer a beautiful and unique product, but also to guarantee its consistently high quality.