Glassware has been used for drinking, eating and general use since the Stone Age, UV printing on glass takes modern glassware to the next level. Although the glass we use today is the same or a variation of the “liquid sand” invented many years ago, glass decoration techniques have evolved over time with advances in technology. Although a naturally occurring substance, glass was first produced by humans accidentally in the form of beads in the mid-third millennium BC. For many years after that, glass was recognized as a luxury. Just like there are many ways to make glass, there are also many ways to decorate glass.
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Have you ever sat down at a formal business event or fancy dinner and been served your drink from a plastic or Styrofoam cup? Chances are, you haven’t. There’s a reason you’re given a plastic cup at a fast food restaurant and a fancy wine glass at a formal dinner. Glassware has and still to this day shows status. It can be cut and molded into virtually any design and can be beautifully decorated in many ways. In addition to its ability to show status, glass is also a sustainable product. First, glass is not a product you would toss unless it is broken. You can constantly use glass or sell it. Second, glass will not pollute the environment. Unlike plastic or Styrofoam, you can melt glass and recycle it back into glass. There are thousands of applications for glass such as tableware, windows, phone screens and packaging.
In general, glass is made up of a combination of soda lime and sand, but the three most common types are soda lime, borosilicate and tempered.
1. Soda Lime:
Soda lime is the most common type of glass, accounting for about 90% of glass products in the market. It typically makes windowpanes (flat glass) and glass containers for food and the like (container glass). Soda lime is a mixture of soda lime and sand.
2. Borosilicate:
Borosilicate is another type of glass made up of soda lime, sand and boron. This type of glass has excellent heat resistance so items that are constantly sitting over a fire or in an oven will not melt or crack. Items that are borosilicate glass range from test tubes or beakers to Pyrex.
3. Tempered:
Tempered glass is unique in that when broken, it shatters without making shards. Certain countries require establishments to use this type of glass as a safety precaution. Some common applications include vehicle windows, shower doors, screen protectors and even bullet proof glass.
There are two popular methods of coating that manufacturers will apply either before and/or after the annealing process to ensure the glassware is protected. Annealing refers to the slow cooling of the glass. The two methods are hot end coating and cold end coating.
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Hot End Coating
Hot end coating is used on all bottles including wine, soda, spirit and even beer bottles before the annealing process. Once the glass is formed, a thin tin-chloride film is applied onto the glass making the surface more resistant to breakage. This coating is sprayed onto the inside and outside of the bottle. Hot end coating protects consumers from the glass shattering, which may occur because of a buildup of pressure due to carbonation.
Cold End Coating
For all other types of glass, manufacturers use a cold end coat to protect items from scratching and scuffing during shipping. This type of coating is either a spray or a vapor that is applied after the annealing process. There are multiple types of cold end coatings including water soluble, water insoluble, polyethylene or fatty acid types.
Before UV printing on glass, the surface must be properly pre-treated. Although glass is ideal for printing, partly due to its high surface free energy, it is susceptible to absorbing debris or other coatings which may inhibit adhesion. The most common pre-treatment machines for industrial applications include flame treating, Pyrosil®, and plasma. All three methods and combinations of each have a goal of improving the strength of adhesion, and in turn, improving product quality. The purpose of the flame treatment is to burn off the cold end coating. Inkcups has created their own 3-part pre-treatment solution called MagiCoat®. MagiCoat® acts as the anchor after flame-treating. The water-based primer spray adds a new coating to the glass which promotes adhesion between the ink and glass. Unlike other methods on the market, MagiCoat® is completely safe to use and has been FDA approved. Learn more about the differences between a few pretreatment methods for glass.
Once the glass has been made and coated, many glassware companies will seek to decorate these items. The four most popular methods for decorating glass are using printed decals, pad printing, screen printing and UV printing.
Digital glass printing combines technology with artistry to produce high-precision printed glass for a wide variety of applications. Using state-of-the-art technology, printing machines are able to translate digital files into colorful prints on glass. Printed designs can include patterns, textures, graphic art, high-resolution photos, and colors. The glass sizes range according to manufacturer and printer capabilities. Glass printing machines can range in size and their printing application. Some are set up for high-design jobs, while others are set up to produce bulk products like car windows and stovetops. There are only a handful of glass fabricators in the US that have this capability, but we do expect to see digital glass printing become more commonplace in the future.
Digital glass printers take designs and print them onto glass using small inkjets to administer the ceramic inks. After printing, the glass goes through the tempering process and inks are fused into the glass. The result is a high-quality product that will not fade or scratch off. Unlike screen printing, digital glass printing offers a wide range of colors and flexible design techniques. Printers and ceramic inks manufactured by Tec Glass, come with high-performance ink selection that varies by application. They also offer luxury ink, with shimmer effects for the most high-end architectural glass projects. The average DPI (dots per inch) for their fleet of printers is 1440 DPI, but they all have the capability to print an impressive 2880 DPI. To put this in perspective, high-quality marketing materials are often printed at 250-300 DPI.
We expect to see digital printing grow to be a common glass fabrication practice in the future. At the moment, most printed glass is found in high architecture buildings, art installations, or commissioned art projects. We hope to see interior designers and contractors utilize printing capabilities to make some truly unique glass designs. Interested in exploring more about digital printing? Visit our page to learn more and connect with a project manager!
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