Metal Containers

Background
Steel is one of the older packaging materials. Originally
used for round, square, and rectangular boxes and
canisters.

Metal cans’ advantages:

l  being relatively inexpensive
l  capable of being thermally processed
l  rigid
l  easy to process on high-speed lines
l  readily recyclable
l  total barrier to gas and light
l  an important means of delivering a shelf-stable product
Background

Three-piece (left) and two-piece(right) can construction

Background
Shallow drawn containers with friction or slip covers

Two-piece shallow drawn cans with double-seamed

(folded) ends
l  improved appearance
l  elimination of a possible leakage location

Three-piece steel sanitary food cans

l  steel cans with a welded body and two ends,
Common Metal Container Shapes

Examples of specialized can shapes

Three-Piece Steel Cans
Steel three-piece can bodies can be mechanically seamed,
bonded with adhesive, welded, or soldered.
l  Aluminum cannot be soldered and cannot be welded
economically.
l  Welded sanitary three-piece can bodies are therefore
made exclusively of steel.
l  Mechanical seaming or sealing is used only for
containers intended for dry product
Three-Piece Steel Cans
Adhesive bonding, or cementing, uses a thermoplastic
adhesive extruded onto a hot can blank. Being an attractive
method for not being subjected to thermal processing.
(three-piece beverage containers, some frozen juice
concentrate and paint cans)

Soldered a can, (solders : 97.5% lead and 2.5% tin). No

longer permitted for food because of lead.
Three-Piece Steel Cans
Welded cans, (strong and eliminate potential lead hazards).
l  body sheet passing between electrodes - an electrical
current heats and fuses the metal
l  Welded seam: about 30% thicker than the two base metal
sheets.
l  Sanitary food cans and bead: to improve resistance to
collapse (preventing collapse during pressure differentials
encountered during rejoining and enables the can to
withstand an internal vacuum).
Three-Piece Steel Cans

Double-seaming is the attachment of the can end to the body.

It involves two curling steps
Two-Piece Cans
Draw Process: Shallow-profile cans (whose height is
less than their diameter) can be drawn directly from a
circular metal blank. The process is sometimes referred
to as "shallow draw.”
Two-Piece Cans
Draw-and-redraw Process: The first draw produces a
shallow cup. The second reduces the diameter as the
can is deepened. Cans having a height significantly
greater than the can diameter would require a third draw.
Two-Piece Cans
Draw-and-iron Process: Carbonated beverage cans by
D&I process. The thin walls of the D&I container’s usage:
not undergo severe thermal processing lend support to the
walls (carbonated beverage cans, noncarbonated juices,
soft drink can use either steel or aluminum, beer is
particularly sensitive to traces of dissolved iron while being
relatively insensitive to aluminum.
Two-Piece Cans
Impact Extrusion
Impact extrusion forms ductile metals such as tin, lead, and
aluminum into seamless tubes.
- Impact-extrusion sequence
Impact Extrusion

(A) the round end (B)Screw-eye openings

(C) Nasal tips (D)Mastitis tips
(E) Neckless tubes (F)Grease tips
Impact Extrusion

Two impact-extruded aerosol can designs (left, center)

and a three-piece welded-steel aerosol can(right).
Aerosols
Aerosol packaging refers to products packaged in a
pressurized container having a valve that permits controlled
product release as required.

The main advantage of aerosols is their ability to disperse

product into much finer particles that stayed suspended in
the air for a much longer time than was available from hand
pumps and other systems.
Aerosols
Aerosol Propellants
A typical aerosol product has:
l  The liquid phase: contains the product to be expelled.
l  The vapor phase: at an increased pressure and will force
the product up the dip tube and expel it through the
nozzle whenever the valve is opened.

The product typically occupies about 75%, but never more

than 92.5%, of the available space.

Well-designed aerosol containers will deliver 95% or better

of the contained product.
AEROSOLS

In a two-phase aerosol, the propellant is dissolved in the

product. In a three-phase system, the propellant forms a
separate layer