How Do Glass Manufacturers Make Glass Cups? What Are The Methods Of Forming Glass Cups?

In recent years, people's living standards have improved rapidly, and higher requirements have been placed on the performance of glass as a material. In order to enhance the safety and artistry of glass, manufacturers have launched many new glass products, which are powerful and very attractive. For example, dimmable glass that can be powered on and off to control transparency is more practical than traditional frosted glass. Next, let’s take a look at how glass manufacturers make glass cups and learn about the various methods of forming glass cups.

1.​ How glass manufacturers make glass cups?

The glass cup production process mainly includes:

1) Raw material preprocessing. Crush the bulk raw materials (quartz sand, soda ash, limestone, feldspar, etc.), dry the wet raw materials, and remove iron from the iron-containing raw materials to ensure stable glass quality.

2) Prepare batch materials.

3) Melting. The glass batch materials are heated and stirred at high temperature (1550~1600 degrees) in a pool kiln or furnace to form uniform, bubble-free liquid glass that meets the molding requirements.

4) Molding. Put the liquid glass into the mold to make glass products of the required shape, such as flat plates, various utensils, etc.

5) Heat treatment. Through annealing, quenching and other processes, the stress, phase separation or crystallization inside the glass is eliminated or strengthened, and the structural state of the glass is changed.

2.​ What are the methods of forming glass cups?

1) Blow molding

There are two methods of manual and mechanical blow molding:

1. When artificially forming, use a hand-held blowpipe to pick materials from the crucible or the material inlet of the kiln, and blow them into the shape of the device in an iron or wooden mold. Use the rotary blowing method for smooth round products; those with convex and concave patterns on the surface or irregular shapes Round products use the static blowing method. First, pick the colorless material and blow it into small bubbles, and then use the small bubbles to pick the color material or opacified material and blow it into the shape of the device. This is called nesting blowing. Use colored fusible material particles to dip them into the shape of the device. On the opaque nesting material, natural melt flows of various colors can be blown into natural scenery vessels; when the ribbon-like opaque material is dipped in the color material, it can be blown into brushed vessels.

2. Mechanical molding is used to blow large quantities of products. After receiving the material, the blowing machine automatically closes the iron mold and blows it into the shape of the container. After downloading, the cap is removed to form the container. Press blow molding can also be used, and the material is first punched into small pieces. Bubble (prototype), and then continue to blow it into the shape of the device. It is more efficient and has better quality than simply using a blow molding machine.

2) Press molding

During manual molding, materials are manually picked and put into the iron mold, the punch is driven, pressed into the shape of the device, and then demoulded after solidification.

Mechanical molding is an automated production with large batches and high efficiency. Press molding is suitable for products with large mouths and small bottoms that can exit the punch, such as glasses, glass candlesticks, glass jars, glass bottles, etc.

3) Free forming

Also known as mindless molding. Materials are manually selected and repeatedly baked and modified or thermally bonded in front of the kiln. Since there is no contact with the mold, the glass surface is bright and the shape and lines of the product are smooth. The finished product is also called a kiln glass product.

4) Centrifugal molding

The material is received in the rotating mold, and the centrifugal force generated by the rotation causes the glass to expand and stick to the mold. It is then taken out after solidification. It is suitable for the molding of large glassware with uniform walls.