The residual stresses accumulated in the forming process have great effects on the product quality of the glass bulb. Based on the characteristics analysis of glass bulb forming, a mathematical model has been established for calculating residual stresses of glass pressing process. The material is assumed as thermorheologically simple thermoviscoelastic material, and the flow-induced stress is neglected. The consequences of equilibrium and compatibility equations are discussed in detail, and the boundary conditions are specified for various stages of the forming process. The numerical solution is based on the theory of thin layers, combined with finite difference method in the time and layer difference in the thickness direction. The presented model and solution method could easily be extended to general pressing process of glass, and applied to problems relative to glass pressing, providing extensive reference values.glass bulb, residual stresses, mathematical modeling, numerical simulation, theory of thin layers With the rapid development of electronic products such as TV sets and computers, the need for glass bulb as upper products of color picture tubes also increases greatly. A glass bulb consists of a panel and a cone, which are both pressed in a special press table.In forming, molten glass is pressed into a relatively cold mold, in which complicated and transient flow occurs. Glass melt with high temperature in the core flows toward the mold wall in the glass/air interface of front ceaselessly, which is called as fountain flow. After pressing, the melt is pressurized by pressure of the plunge until the plunger is removed. Because of the mold and air cooling, the layers that come into contact with the mold surface in pressing solidify immediately. And the part will solidify from surface toward core after pressing. The specific volume of glass varies with the changes of temperature. The solidification and shrinkage layer by layer of glass result in a buildup of self-equilibrating residual stresses. Because glass exhibits time-dependent (viscoelastic) thermomechanical behavior, the local stresses "relax" continually