Silicon balls can be a bottle’s worst nightmare. This type of stone is caused by aluminum contamination in the cullet. When the aluminum reacts with molten glass (mostly silicon dioxide), it exchanges places to create aluminum oxide and elemental silicon. Because silicon has a lower coefficient of thermal expansion than glass, these stones exert a very high stress on the surrounding matrix after the glass cools. They severely weaken the container and can cause it to break due to relatively mild loads later in the filling process. This SEM micrograph shows a damaged silicon ball (often they are found in a perfect spherical condition) that was found at a fracture origin.

Looming like the weathered ruins of an Egyptian Temple, this crystal of calcite (CaCO3) rises out of a roughened desert of corroded glass. It is well known that some liquors can attack the inside surfaces of glass containers by leaching sodium and calcium out of the glass. The leached glass is vulnerable to corrosion or delamination, leading to the roughened surface seen in this SEM image. The calcite crystal possibly grew on the roughened surface due to the increased concentration of calcium in the product after leaching.

Damascus steel blades are known for their extreme resilience and swirling two-toned bands. The method by which historical Damascus steel was produced is hotly debated, but high-quality knives made via a similar process are still available for the discerning aficionado. The banded inclusion draped over the finish of this container is also made of iron, but unlike Damascus steel, it would not make a very good sword. Most of the metal has reacted with sulfur in the glass melt to create iron sulfide. The iron sulfide blister was then elongated during the forming process into the blade-like inclusion shown here.

We hope you enjoy these pristine snowflake-shaped crystals as much as we do. Unlike their meteorological doppelgangers, though, these snowflakes don’t melt – and that’s just the problem. In a glass furnace, erosion from refractory sidewalls creates a viscous zirconia-rich drip that doesn’t dissolve in the glass melt. As the glass moves into cooler parts of the furnace, the zirconia crystallizes into the dendrites that you see here.