Glass Expert Performs Bottle Failure Analysis

A glass failure expert witness performs a failure analysis on a failed cosmetic bottle. As received, the top of the bottle had broken off. Upper left is a photograph of 'as receceived' failed bottle. Approximately one half of the bottle finish had broken off. Read Consulting performed a glass failure analysis to determine if this failure was a manufacturing defect, or it failed as a result of shipping damage. The upper right photomicrograph is 30X view of the failure origin. The failure initiated at a bruise (small impact damage) on the top of the finish. Three of nine bottles from the same molding cavity also had damage to the top of the finish. In this shipping lot there were over thirty five bottles from other cavities, and none of these showed damage. Thus, the glass failure analysis expert witness believes that this product defect occured during manufacturing. However, both the shipping methods and the manufacturing proceedures will be reviewed for product liability improvement.