Glass packaging ensuring container integrity
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsSteven Edward DeMartino, Robert Anthony Schaut
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A strengthened glass container or vessel such as, but not limited to, vials for holding pharmaceutical products or vaccines in a hermetic and/or sterile state. The strengthened glass container undergoes a strengthening process that produces compression at the surface and tension within the container wall. The strengthening process is designed such that the tension within the wall is great enough to ensure catastrophic failure of the container, thus rendering the product unusable, should sterility be compromised by a through-wall crack. The tension is greater than a threshold central tension, above which catastrophic failure of the container is guaranteed, thus eliminating any potential for violation of pharmaceutical integrity.
Claims14
A method of making a glass article having a first surface and a second surface separated by a thickness, the method comprising:
- forming a first region in at least one surface of the glass article by ion-exchanging an aluminosilicate glass of the glass article, wherein the first region extends from at least one of the first surface and the second surface to a depth of layer in the glass, wherein the first region is under a compressive stress, wherein the thickness of the glass article is from 0.9 mm to 1.2 mm;
- and
- forming a second region under a central tension of greater than 13 MPa to less than 13.8 MPa, the second region extending from the depth of layer, wherein the central tension is sufficient to allow self-propagation of a flaw front from the first surface to the second surface and laterally across at least the first surface, wherein the glass article is a container adapted to hold a pharmaceutical product, a vaccine, a biologic, a foodstuff, or a solution.
A method of ensuring self-elimination of a vessel having an intended use, the method comprising:
- providing the vessel, the vessel comprising an ion-exchanged aluminosilicate glass, a first surface, and a second surface, wherein the first surface and the second surface are separated by a thickness of from 0.9 mm to 1.2 mm, the glass has a first region under a compressive stress, the first region extending from at least one of the first surface and the second surface to a depth of layer in the glass, and a second region under a central tension of greater than 13 MPa and less than 13.8 MPa, the second region extending from the depth of layer, wherein the central tension is greater than a threshold tensile stress that is sufficient to allow self-propagation of a flaw front through the thickness from the first surface to the second surface, and wherein the self-propagation of the flaw front from the first surface to the second surface renders the vessel unsuitable for its intended use.
A method of making a glass article having a first surface and a second surface separated by a thickness, the method comprising:
- forming a first region in at least one surface of the glass article by ion-exchanging an aluminosilicate glass of the glass article, wherein the first region extends from at least one of the first surface and the second surface to a depth of layer in the glass, and wherein the first region is under a compressive stress, wherein the thickness of the glass article is from 0.9 mm to 1.2 mm;
- forming a second region under a central tension of greater than 13.8 MPa to less than 22 MPa, the second region extending from the depth of layer, wherein the central tension is sufficient to allow self-propagation of a flaw front from the first surface to the second surface and laterally across at least the first surface, wherein the glass article is a container adapted to hold a pharmaceutical product, a vaccine, a biologic, a foodstuff, or a solution.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.