METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FLUORINE SURFACE TREATMENT OF GLASS ARTICLES

摘要

It is known to render the interiors of glass containers corrosion resistant by contacting such interiors with a fluorine containing gas while the glass article is hot enough to pyrolyze the fluorine containing gas and thus deposit fluorine on the glass surface. Small thin-walled glass vials do not retain enough heat to pyrolyze the fluorine gas due to rapid cooling of the vial by the gas and the relatively low deformation temperatures of such vials. The present invention provides a method and apparatus whereby the vials are heated to temperatures safely below their deformation temperature and then exposed interiorly to gas-air mixtures heated to a temperature approaching the pyrolyzing temperature of the fluorine gas compound of the gas-air mixture. Thus the combined heat of the vial and the gas is available for instantaneously pyrolyzing the gas to deposit fluorine on the glass surface without deformation of the vials.