Drink Products

A beverage bottle is a rigid container for liquids with a body and a narrowed neck that opens into a mouth. Manufacturers make bottles from plastic, glass, aluminum, ceramic or other impervious materials in order to store water, milk, soft drinks, beer, wine, spirits or other liquids. Glass Every day, factories worldwide churn out millions of glass bottles of all shapes and sizes. Glassmaking, though, is an age-old process with glass-coated objects dating back to 12,000 BC. Before the age of modern manufacturing, artisans blew glass bottles by hand one at a time. Today, glass manufacturing is a highly mechanized process, rapidly producing uniform bottles quickly and efficiently. The manufacturing of glass bottles involves several stages: raw material, melting, forming, annealing, first physical inspection, machine and laser inspection, second physical inspection, quality control and final packing. Producing reinforced bottles requires an additional lamination step. Coating the glass with a layer of plastic produces laminated safety glass. If an ordinary glass bottle breaks, the shards may scatter, causing safety concerns. However, if a laminated bottle breaks, the surrounding plastic seal contains the broken pieces, and the bottle is easily disposed of. Plastic Manufacturers form plastic bottles using a variety of techniques. The choice of material varies depending upon the application. PET: Polyethylene Terephthalate performs very well for carbonated beverage and water bottles. PET is a very good barrier against alcohol and essential oils. It has good chemical resistance as well as a high degree of impact resistance and tensile strength. The barrier properties and impact strength result from the orienting process in PET manufacturing. HDPE: High Density Polyethylene is the most widely used resin for plastic bottles. It is economical, impact resistant, and provides a good moisture barrier. HDPE is compatible with a wide range of products including acids and caustics and is available in FDA approved food grade. However, it is not compatible with solvents. HDPE is naturally translucent and flexible. The addition of color makes HDPE opaque though not glossy. LDPE: Low Density Polyethylene: LDPE is similar to HDPE in composition. It is less rigid and generally less chemically resistant than HDPE but is more translucent. Used primarily for squeeze applications, LDPE is significantly more expensive than HDPE.