01A. basic information
bottle caps = closures for the top opening of a bottle; usually made out of metal (steel or aluminum) with a plastic backing;
besides their practical use (closing the top opening of a bottle), they are also oftentimes used for promotion, mainly code campaigns in which a consumer is encouraged to enter a certain code printed on the bottom of a bottle cap in order to win a prize. this increases sales of the certain beverage as there is an incentive for people to increase their chances of winning;
within pop culture, they were notably used in the Fallout video game series; bottle caps were used as a de facto currency.
02A. about crown caps
the ones i plan to use are called crown corks/caps, patented by William Painter in the 19th century;
the backing was originally made out of paper and was included with the intent to prevent contact between the contents and the metal cap (to avoid metal corrosion/rusting?);
• to be more specific, the backing is made out of PVC material.
they have 21 teeth, originally 24 teeth;were created due to Painter’s desire to find fortune through “a disposable object that would sell in very large quantities”;
he was inspired by the inefficiency of the stoppers used to close bottles of carbonated drinks
• initially made out of metal, cork or porcelain;
• would not provide enough of a seal to prevent the drink from bubbling over;
• if they came in contact with the liquid, the drink would become toxic.
in the USA around 1942, crown caps were made out of recycled tin cans, collected by bottlers. these would later be treated in order to create a sheet out of the body of the can. these can bodies were later sent to the crown manufacturers. this allowed manufacturers to source sustainable material for crown caps;
• provides an environmental dimension to the material. as long as the metal is separated from the plastic backing, the metal part of the cap can be easily recycled and repurposed.
01B. material information - metal (main cap)
“the metal caps are usually made of steel and aluminum. they have a wide range of temperature tolerance and are resistant to fracture from impact. the steel caps are usually coated with an anti-corrosive coating of chrome plate or tin plate. other materials like plastisol, pulp/aluminum Foil, or solid PE (polyethylene) are also used.”
the main differences between metal and aluminum bottle caps are the color (aluminum bottle caps have a silver tint, steel ones have a gold tint), the thickness (aluminum ones are thinner and more pliable) and their magnetism (steel bottle caps are magnetic while aluminum ones are not);
“metal bottle caps are shaped with a machine that creates the dips along the edges. some metal caps have an additional plastic coating put over them.”
metal bottle caps are most likely punched out of a sheet of metal and afterwards shaped to give them the crown shape;
the plastic coating is very thin and pressed onto the metal, to prevent peeling. the use of the coating seems to be keeping the design consistent and preventing the metal from damaging.
experiment ideas
it would be interesting to experiment with physically altering the bottle caps to notice any interesting effects or to spark other ideas. for this, i will be making use of the equip- ment within the metal station. some of these experiments might be:
• heating;
• melting;
• bending;
• folding;
• flattening;
• cutting;
• imprinting;
• drilling;
• polishing;
• deconstructing;
• un-painting (removing the design)
• linking together etc.
02B. material research - PVC (backing)
arguably the most environmentally damaging type of plastic;
PVC production is the largest use of chlorine, which gives pvc its toxic properties. for example, around 40% of all chlorine used in the usa accounts for pvc production;
chlorine-based toxins are resistant to breakdown and will last for (potentially) decades;
can (but shouldn’t) be melted, releases hydrogen chloride gas which is highly toxic. it degrades before melting;
it can be recycled mechanically (ground into particles and melted, highly dangerous if self-done) or chemically (converted into individual chemical components and used as such).