Composite container with high barrier liner layer and method of forming the same

In a composite container of the type including at least one tubular helically wound fibrous body wall layer (56) having inner and outer surfaces, and a helically wound inner liner layer (60) covering said inner surface of said body wall layer, the improvement wherein said inner liner layer comprises:

• (a) a base layer web (72) formed of synthetic plastic material and having a pair of longitudinal edges and a pair of opposed faces;
• (b) a first high-barrier strip of metallized material (74, 174, 274) deposited on at least one face of said base layer web, said strip having a pair of longitudinal parallel edges and a width less than that of the web, said strip being parallel with and spaced at each edge at least a predetermined minimum distance (c) from the corresponding longitudinal edge of said web, said metallized strip having a thickness that is relatively thin with respect to the thickness of said base layer web;
• (c) a first layer of heat sealable synthetic plastic material (76, 176, 276) completely covering the other face of said web;
• and
• (d) a second layer of heat sealable synthetic plastic material (78, 178, 278) completely covering said metallized strip and said one web face;
• (e) said base layer web being helically wound with successive edge portions arranged in overlapping relation with the corresponding synthetic plastic layers being heat seal bonded together, thereby to form a helical lapped-seamed tube, the overlapping distance of said edge portions of said base layer web being such as to cause the edges of said helically wound metallized strip to overlap a given distance (d), whereby said metallized strip extends in high barrier relation completely around the interior of the container body wall with the edges of said strip being isolated from the contents of the container.