Research Progress of Inner Surface Tolerance Testing Technology of Glass Containers for Pharmaceutical Packaging

OBJECTIVE  To explore the erosion mechanism and influencing factors of medicinal glass, as well as common detection methods in the study of the inner surface durability of glass drug packaging materials, to provide reference for evaluating the erosion status of the inner surface of medicinal glass.

METHODS  Starting from the analysis of the erosion mechanism of medicinal glass, the influence of factors such as chemical composition, production process, internal surface treatment method, and drug properties on the inner surface durability was clarified. At the same time, the system introduced various methods for detecting the inner surface durability of medicinal glass, including visual inspection, methylene blue staining, optical microscopy, electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma, etc.

RESULTS  Pharmaceutical glass might undergo internal surface erosion and even flaking under specific conditions. Tiny glass flakes that entered the drug solution were hard to detect and posed a potential risk to medication use. Different detection methods had their own advantages in observing the internal surface erosion of glass, covering multiple aspects from macroscopic observation to microscopic morphology analysis, surface element composition, and ion migration detection.

CONCLUSION  The inner surface durability of medicinal glass is an important factor in the safety of drug packaging. The comprehensive application of multiple detection methods is conducive to a comprehensive assessment of the erosion degree of the inner surface of the glass, providing a scientific basis for the selection and quality evaluation of pharmaceutical glass.