Oxygen and Argon tube oven annealing
The tube oven has a temperature range of up to 1100 °C and can fit 26mm diameter tubes. Temperature regulation is done by a Lindberg/Blue UP150 controller.
Oxygen and Argon can be connected separately or mixed. Setting the gas flows is done via a needle valve separately for O2 and Ar.
Notes before usage
read safety notes below
Keep the components clean and do not use tubes that are not assigned to you
wear gloves
Make sure to mark or label your tube if you wish to keep it clean and keep it in the cupboard
Indicate whether samples are loaded or not
Check the specifications of the tube and boat before usage, make sure your tube and boat are suitable for your process (operating temperature)
Place all parts in the small boxes near the oven
Tube specifications
Outer diameter: 26mm
Length: between 55cm and 65cm
Operating temperatures of boat and tube material:
High temperature safety
Always lock the oven when a process is running.
Let process cool down to 50°C before handling any components.
No organic solvents on the table when a process is running.
Work with clean tubes
Pressurized gas cylinders safety
Do not attempt to change cylinders or connected equipment, always consult with a technician.
Setting up and starting the process
check that your tube and sample boat have a higher operating temperature specified than your process temperature
load sample and connect tube adaptors
double check pressure reducers on the cylinders are closed
open cylinder(s) you need (make sure there is enough oxygen for you proces)
set 1 bar on secondary pressure gauge
set desired flow rate with needle valve for both gasses separately.
setup heater program and start (see below on how to use the temperature controller)
Cool down and finish
if you operated in single setpoint mode: turn off oven manually
wait until oven temp is below 50°C
close cylinders with the angle key on the top of the cylinder, keep flow on until pressure on primary and secondary pressure gauges is 0. You can increase flow a bit if this takes a long time.
close manual valves, needle valves and pressure reducers
take out sample and put a tube back to keep everything clean.
Using the UP150 temperature controller
A typical program for us will have three segments, a ramp-up, a dwell and ramp-down segment.
In the ramp-up segment you specify the desired temperature and how fast you want to reach this temperature (do not heat to quickly).
In the dwell segment you set the time how long you want to stay at the desired temperature in hours.
In the ramp-down segment you specify the desired temperature and how fast you want to reach this temperature, since we don't have active cooling, the cooldown rate cannot be made faster.
changing ramp-up segment
hold set/ent button for 3 sec to go into the menu
with set/ent button navigate to PrG
set PrG to 1 with ▲
set/ent button to confirm and enter the program
with set/ent button navigate to SP1
change desired temperature with ▼ and ▲, set/ent button to confirm
change Tn1 with ▼ and ▲ (displayed in hours)
hold set/ent button 3 sec to go back to main display
Start program: hold ▼ for 3sec
Stop program: hold ▲ for 3sec
Manual UP150 controller