Metal tubes

The original tubes were produced from soft metals, mostly tin or lead or an alloy of these. The aluminum tube was introduced in the mid-1950s and has been consistently improved in the years that followed.

Today, the metal tubes are predominantly aluminum. Metal tubes served the industry for many decades, and various types of inner coatings were devised to overcome the problem of product reaction with the metal of the tube. The only tin tubes are for special pharmaceutical applications, mostly ophthalmic.

Aluminum tubes are produced by impact extrusion without a seam as a single piece in a similar manner to aerosol cans. The tube material is commercially pure aluminium (99.7 % purity) and tube diameters range from 11– 60 mm.

The approximately 0.1 mm thick aluminum tube body can be readily deformed plastically with little elastic spring-back. The contents of the tube can thus be dosed exactly without any contents or air being sucked back.

Aluminum permanently prevents the penetration of oxygen. This essential barrier property makes the aluminum tube a most appropriate and well established packaging in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical markets.
Metal tubes