Decorative effects can be achieved in many ways :
  • Conventional can printing techniques, which are now being vastly improved by the use of eight colour printers. Improved designs are possible including special effects.
  • The development of the Hexachrome process, which adds orange and green to the Euro colours, and therefore enables a wider range of colours to be printed. Moreover, printing with crystal dots results in a different colour finish.
  • New inks are being developed :
Ultra Violet light sensitive inks which create
special effects when exposed to UV light.

Tactile inks which have a special surface designed to give a different feel to various parts of the design.
Thermochromic inks which change colour due to changes in temperature and can be used with the decoration in novel ways, e.g. to indicate when a particular drink has reached its ideal serving temperature.
Dynamic in appearance and intense in colour, this Steel and Life embossed and coloured drinks can clearly highlights steel's ability to differentiate the beverage cans in an increasingly competitive retail environment.
Brand differentiation can also be achieved through shaping and embossing and the formability of the steel can offers a wide variety of shapes and possible decorations. The various shaping processes of steel beverage can are :
  • Mechanical forming by expansion of a shaped, segmented mandrel.
  • Blow forming which works as above, but with the use of high pneumatic pressure instead of hydraulic pressure
  • Rheoforming of pre-necked straight walled cans where high pressure liquid forces the can walls into a mould with an axial force on the can to avoid wall thinning.
  • The full body necking, by reducing the diameter of a standard can, and re-expanding it, allows for a high degree of shaping in subsequent processes if required. This process presents two major advantages in the can making operation.
Firstly, it is very flexible to implement and can be integrated within a standard existing line. Secondly, it does not require major modifications to the front-end, and can be installed as an alternative option after the first inside spray bank. The line configuration is as shown below: the can maker can make the choice between the production of a standard or a shaped can.


With the development of the shaping process, it would be possible to change the shape quickly and economically, meaning that differentiation by shape will become a reality.
Major advantages are that this technology is inserted into the existing can making production process, and that the shaped can is made with no increase in the quantity of steel being used whilst keeping the structural properties of steel.
To help brand owners in defining an own unique look for their brand, Finite Element Modelling techniques can be used to achieve the optimum shape that will highlight the decoration shaping, as well as maintain the desired mechanical properties of the finished can.
Brand differentiation can also be achieved by offering distinct characteristics to the steel beverage can with the use for instance of :
  • a widget (or In Can System) which is a small device inserted into the bottom of a can often containing a mixture of gases. When the can is opened, the gases surge through the drink helping to form the desired smooth creamy head at the top of the drink, as found when buying draught ale from pubs. Widget cans are more highly pressurised than standard cans due to the level of gases that they contain and steel cans provide higher bursting pressure and dome reversal levels than other containers.
2. CONCLUSION

The constant technological developments of steel for packaging such as lightweighting, but also its wide design potential, its environmental credentials and its cost effectiveness, explain why the steel can is a major player in the small size beverage container market.
And, this will continue in the years to come thanks to the adaptability and flexibility of steel for packaging to comply with the essential functions of packaging :

    1.to protect the content from the environment and vice-versa,
    2.to help in identifying the brand,
    3.to aid in sales
    4.whilst complying with environmental issues.

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