What Is A Muffle Furnace Used For
Do you know what a muffle furnace can be used for?Here Kejia gives you the information about the functions of muffle furnace.
A muffle furnace has separate combustion and heating chambers. This means the gases, ash and residue of combustion do not contaminate the heated material. Often used in scientific research, the muffle furnace allows the study of heated materials without inclusion of outside materials from the combustion process. The design of the furnace allows you to maintain high heat levels for long periods. Most laboratory-sized muffle furnaces are now electrically powered.
Determining Fixed Solids
Scientists studying soils and water use the muffle furnace to burn off any volatile materials in a sample, leaving only the nonvolatile. The high heat will convert the nonvolatile to ash while the volatile materials burn off as gases. This process is used in a wide variety of fields of study in a process known as ashing.
Engineering
Engineers use muffle furnaces to determine the strength of structural elements such as concrete after exposure to controlled levels of heat. Because the muffle furnace can maintain an accurate temperature for extended periods of time, extreme thermal effects can be noted that could not be duplicated in other forms of testing equipment.
Heat Treating Metals
Extreme heat changes the carbon content of steel. This can strengthen the metal, improving its usability in high stress situations. Muffle furnaces are generally small, limiting the size of the steel parts and are more commonly used for testing metal parts rather than the production of heat-treated metal.
Volatulity
Because the test material is not exposed to the flames used to generate the heat, the muffle furnace can be used to determine the temperature at which a material combusts. This eliminates the possibility that combustion of the material could be initiated by the heat source. This is useful in determining the combustion point of materials that would ignite at any temperature if exposed to a flame.