Systems for producing articles from glass tube include a converter having a base with a plurality of processing stations and a turret moveable relative to the base. The turret indexes a plurality of holders for holding the glass tubes successively through the processing stations. The systems further include a gas flow system or a suction system for producing a flow of gas through the glass tube during one or more heating, forming, separating or piercing operations. The flow of gas through the glass tube produced by the gas flow system or suction system may be sufficient to evacuate or purge volatile constituents of the glass from the glass tube and/or pierce a meniscus formed on the glass tube during separation, thereby reducing the Surface Hydrolytic Response (SHR) of the interior surface of the glass tube and articles made therefrom.

A known method for homogenizing glass includes the following steps: providing a cylindrical blank composed of the glass, having a cylindrical outer surface which extends between a first end face and a second end face, forming a shear zone in the blank by softening a longitudinal section of the blank and subjecting it to a thermal-mechanical intermixing treatment, and moving the shear zone along the longitudinal axis of the blank. To reduce the risk of cracks and fractures during homogenizing, it is proposed that a thermal radiation dissipator is used that at least partially surrounds the shear zone, the lateral dimension of which in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the blank is greater than the shear zone and smaller than the length of the blank, the thermal radiation dissipator being moved synchronously with the shear zone along the longitudinal axis of the blank.

Systems for producing articles from glass tube include a converter having a base with a plurality of processing stations and a turret moveable relative to the base. The turret indexes a plurality of holders for holding the glass tubes successively through the processing stations. The systems further include a gas flow system or a suction system for producing a flow of gas through the glass tube during one or more heating, forming, separating or piercing operations. The flow of gas through the glass tube produced by the gas flow system or suction system may be sufficient to evacuate or purge volatile constituents of the glass from the glass tube and/or pierce a meniscus formed on the glass tube during separation, thereby reducing the Surface Hydrolytic Response (SHR) of the interior surface of the glass tube and articles made therefrom.

Systems for producing articles from glass tube include a converter having a base with a plurality of processing stations and a turret moveable relative to the base. The turret indexes a plurality of holders for holding the glass tubes successively through the processing stations. The systems further include a gas flow system or a suction system for producing a flow of gas through the glass tube during one or more heating, forming, separating or piercing operations. The flow of gas through the glass tube produced by the gas flow system or suction system may be sufficient to evacuate or purge volatile constituents of the glass from the glass tube and/or pierce a meniscus formed on the glass tube during separation, thereby reducing the Surface Hydrolytic Response (SHR) of the interior surface of the glass tube and articles made therefrom.

A method for manufacturing a glass tube is disclosed that includes the step of forming a through hole in a tube wall of a glass tube with two ends including a first end and a second end, each having an opening, near the first end. The method further includes the step of forming a sealed portion by performing thermal processing on a predetermined portion of the glass tube between the first end and the through hole after the formation of the through hole.

A method for controlling alkali emissions of a glass element during hot forming is provided. The method includes the steps of: heating the glass element using one or more burner units each providing a burner flame to provide a heated glass element; sensing light emissions of a total light emitting area of the heated glass element and the burner flame of the one or more burner units via one or more sensor units; providing one or more signals of the one or more sensor units of the light emissions; comparing the one or more signals with one or more reference signals; determining, based on the comparing step, determined alkali emissions of the glass element; and controlling the one or more burner units based on the determined alkali emissions to adjust the alkali emissions of the glass element to a pre-given interval.

A glass tube is manufactured by a method in which a smaller tube is within a larger tube. A space which is formed between the smaller and larger tube is filled with colored, patterned, or clear glass rods or bars to form an assembly. On one end of the assembly, the inner tube is sealed to the outer tube, on an opposite end of the assembly, the inner tube being closed. The assembly is attached to a linear slide mechanism. The linear slide mechanism is used to pass the assembly through a high-temperature furnace having a temperature above the glass transition temperature of the glasses used to build the assembly. A vacuum is applied to the assembly, causing the glasses to collapse towards each other once they reach a plastic state, and causing the outer tube and inner tube to seal against the colored, patterned, or clear glass rods or bars that were held captive.

A method for manufacturing a glass tube is disclosed that includes the step of forming a through hole in a tube wall of a glass tube with two ends including a first end and a second end, each having an opening, near the first end. The method further includes the step of forming a sealed portion by performing thermal processing on a predetermined portion of the glass tube between the first end and the through hole after the formation of the through hole.

A glass container is provided that includes a tube, a circular bottom, and a longitudinal axis. A curved glass heel extends from an outer end the bottom to the first end of the tube. The two-dimensional distance h(x,y) between a contact plane and the outer surface. The two-dimensional distance is measured in a direction parallel to the axis. The slope magnitude of the outer surface at the given position x,y is given by

√{square root over ((dh/dx).sup.2+(dh/dy).sup.2)}.

The 75% quantile of values that have been determined for the term

√{square root over ((dh/dx).sup.2+(dh/dy).sup.2)}×d1/h(xy).sub.delta

for all given positions x,y within a circular area having a radius of 0.4×d2/2 and that correspond to the centre is less than 4100 μm/mm. The adjacent positions x,y increase stepwise by 200 μm, and h(x,y).sub.delta=h(x,y).sub.max−h(x,y).sub.min, h(x,y).sub.max is a maximum value for h(x,y) and h(x,y).sub.min is a minimum value for h(x,y) being determined in that circular area.

A glass container is provided that includes a tube, a circular bottom, and a longitudinal axis. A curved glass heel extends from an outer end the bottom to the first end of the tube. The outer surface has a topography defined by a function ĥ(x) that is an azimuthal average of a distance between a contact plane and the outer surface at any given position located on a circle having the centre and the radius |x|. The values ĥ for ĥ(x) are determined for a plurality of circles the radius of which increases stepwise by 500 μm starting with a circle around the centre having a radius of 500 μm. The values ĥ are determined in a range from x=−0.4×d2/2 to x=+0.4×d2/2, d2 having a size such that at least 4 values ĥ are determined and can be fitted with a curvature function

[00001]$\hat{h}\left(x\right)=\frac{-c\times x^2}{1+\sqrt{1-c^2\times x^2}}+h_0.$