Pharma glass defects - Part 37. Pulled ID

Hello everyone – welcome to Part 37 of an ongoing series about visual defects that may be observed in pharma glass vials.? Today’s defect is the “Pulled Inner Diameter (ID)”, ?also known as an “Out of Round ID”.? A Pulled ID is a defect created during the tubular conversion process in which the ID of the flange is oblong or shifted relative to the central vertical axis of the vial.? Note that this only concerns the ID, not the entirety of the flange – that’s a separate defect called the “Offset Finish” that was covered in a previous post.

Classification of a Pulled ID defect involves measuring the extent of the deviation.? Refer to a prior post on measuring flange ID from my “Critical to Quality Physical Dimensions” series for more info.? A Pulled ID is considered a Major A defect if the non-circularity and/of offset from center causes the flange ID to exceed dimensional specifications.? Otherwise, it’s considered an Acceptable Imperfection.

Why do we care about Pulled ID defects?? PDA TR 43 indicates that a Pulled ID can negatively affect stopper insertion. ?I would also add that operations involving a needle such as washing and filling could also be at greater risk of a flange strike with a pulled ID.

Questions or comments? – please leave them below or feel free to directly contact me.