Tubing Technology | NEC SCHOTT

Concept

SCHOTT manufactures tubing by drawing it directly from the melting tank. Tubing in various glass formulations is used as raw material for production of different types of precision cuts and vials.

Production of precision cuts for reed switches includes the following process steps:

In a fully automated line, SCHOTT 8516 reed switch glass tubes are scratched and then broken into lengths as small as 5 mm.
Ends are firepolished to smooth the edges.
Optional: Before packing in clean-room, precision cuts go through several steps of cleaning to avoid any contamination.

Precision glass vials for transponder applications:

SCHOTT 8625 biocompatible transponder glass is scratched and broken into the required length.
One end is firepolished.
The other end is sealed to form the vial.

Advantages of the Technology

SCHOTT controls the whole process chain from glass formulation over tube drawing to high precision cutting and sealing:

Lead-free glass type 8516 has become a “classic” for reed glasses to hermetically seal the contacts by using infrared radiation sealing.
Excellent biocompatibility of 8625 transponder glass for animal applications has been demonstrated in various studies.
All high precision cutting equipment is developed in-house and continuously optimized.
Fully-automated quality control is implemented for critical dimensions.
Excellent cleanliness allows direct use of glass cuts in customers’ processing lines.

Applications

The main applications are:

Reed switch glasses are specially designed for the hermetic encapsulation of reed switches.
Transponder glass vials are used for the hermetic encapsulation of RFID-transponder devices.