Failure Analysis Expert Examines Bottle Failure

Glass failure analysis expert witness prepared numerous bottle failures of "off the shelf" 12 oz beer bottles by over pressuring them with a hydraulic pump. These tests were needed to generate bottle failures of a known origin in order to examine the crack patterns, the fracture surfaces and the failure origins. Numerous bottles were broken, and even though the locations of the failure origins varied (i.e. some were on the body and others on the heel), they all had identical characteristics. They initiated as a single crack parallel to the bottle axis. Also, the origin was always on the outer surface of the bottle and located at a minor external glass defect. In addition, the failure initiated as a fracture mirror. The fracture mirror was surrounded by mist hackle. The failure shown here initiated at the heel of the bottle. an overview of the failed bottle is shown in the two upper left photographs. The initial crack is parallel to the bottle axis, and it wraps around the heel. At both ends of the initial straight crack the crack fans out. On the upper right is a 40X photomicrograph of the failure origin. The mirror fracture and mist hackle border are clearly visible. The minor defect at the origin is just the weakest part of thisstandard bottle. This bottle failed at 410 psi. This was not a defective bottle. This would not be a product liability case.