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lindberg_blue_tube_oven

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:

  • Pyrex: 500°C (greenish color when viewing the edges)
  • Quartz: 1000°C
  • Al2O3: 1700°C

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

Temperature program with multiple segments

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

lindberg_blue_tube_oven.txt · Last modified: 2023/03/31 09:20 by scholma

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