Application of Box type Resistance Muffle Furnace in Laboratory

The box type resistor muffle furnace is widely used in laboratories, and its core value is reflected in its high-temperature processing capability, precise temperature control, and multifunctionality, which can meet the needs of multiple fields such as materials science, chemical analysis, environmental science, geology, and educational research. The following analysis will be conducted from three aspects: application scenarios, typical cases, and operational advantages:

1. Core application scenarios
Material synthesis and heat treatment
Ceramic and glass preparation: Densification of ceramic materials (such as alumina ceramics with a density of ≥ 3.9 g/cm ³) or glass melting forming (such as borosilicate glass with a transmittance of ≥ 90%) is achieved through high-temperature sintering at 1200-1700 ℃.
Metal heat treatment: supports annealing (to eliminate internal stress), quenching (to increase hardness), and tempering (to adjust toughness) processes. For example, after annealing at 720-750 ℃, the hardness of 45 # steel decreases to HB180-200, making it easier to cut; After quenching, the hardness of GCr15 bearing steel reaches HRC 60-65, and its wear resistance is significantly improved.
Composite material synthesis: used for co sintering of carbon fiber reinforced ceramics or metal matrix composites, with an interfacial bonding strength of over 50 MPa.
Chemical analysis and testing
Elemental analysis: high-precision component analysis can be achieved through ash content determination (such as burning coal to constant weight at 815 ℃ with an error of ≤ 0.1%) or heavy metal detection (such as ICP-OES analysis of lead and cadmium content in soil samples after ashing at 550 ℃ with a detection limit as low as 0.1 mg/kg).
Organic decomposition: After pyrolysis at 450 ℃, plastic samples are analyzed for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) composition by GC-MS to assist in the study of environmental pollutants.
Catalyst preparation: Platinum carbon catalyst has an active specific surface area of ≥ 80 m ²/g after hydrogen reduction at 400 ℃, and is used for oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells; ZSM-5 molecular sieve was calcined at 550 ℃ to remove the template agent, and the specific surface area was restored to 350 m ²/g.
Energy and Environmental Research
Development of new energy materials: LiCoO ₂, a positive electrode material for lithium-ion batteries, was calcined at 900 ℃ for 12 hours, resulting in uniform grain size (1-3 μ m) and a specific capacity of 140 mAh/g; After annealing at 1000 ℃, the minority carrier lifetime of solar cell silicon wafers is increased to 10 μ s, and the conversion efficiency is improved by 1%.
Waste disposal: The incineration reduction rate of urban sludge at 850 ℃ is ≥ 80%, and the solidification rate of heavy metals is ≥ 95%; After the incineration fly ash is melted at 1400 ℃, the decomposition rate of dioxins is ≥ 99.99%, and the leaching toxicity of glass body meets the standards.
Education and research support
Experimental teaching: In the materials science course at universities, students prepare ZnO nanoparticles using a muffle furnace (calcined at 400 ℃ for 2 hours) and analyze the crystal structure using XRD; Geological experiments simulate the high-temperature environment inside the Earth through rock melting (1200-1400 ℃).
Process optimization: The enterprise R&D center determined the optimal aging temperature (160 ℃) and time (8 hours) for aluminum alloy through orthogonal experiments, with a hardness of HV 150; After hot pressing at 1800 ℃, the conductivity of graphene/ceramic composite materials increases by 10 times.

2. Typical Case Analysis
Case 1: Sintering of Ceramic Cutting Tools
Equipment: High temperature furnace (1650 ℃).
Process: Insulate in three stages (500 ℃/2h → 1200 ℃/1h → 1650 ℃/2h) to achieve uniform grain size of zirconia ceramics (0.5-1 μ m).
Effect: The hardness reaches HRC 88 and the fracture toughness is 8 MPa · m ¹/², meeting the needs of high-end cutting tools.
Case 2: Large scale production of catalysts
Equipment: Box furnace (1200 ℃).
Process: V ₂ O ₅ – WO ∝/TiO ₂ denitration catalyst is calcined at 500 ℃ for 4 hours, and the active components are evenly dispersed.
Effect: NOx conversion rate ≥ 90%, meeting industrial flue gas denitrification standards.
Case 3: Biomass pyrolysis for charcoal production
Equipment: Tube furnace (800 ℃).
Process: straw pyrolysis at 500 ℃, biochar yield of 35%, carbon fixation rate ≥ 50%.
Effect: Achieve carbon capture and resource utilization, and help achieve carbon neutrality goals.

3. Operational advantages and safety
Precise temperature control: PID intelligent temperature control technology ensures temperature fluctuations of ≤ 5 ℃, supports multi-stage program temperature control (such as 30 stages), and can accurately simulate complex heat treatment curves.
Atmosphere protection: Some models are equipped with air inlet and exhaust ports, which can be filled with inert gases (such as argon) or reducing gases (such as hydrogen) to meet special needs such as catalyst preparation.
Safety design: With functions such as over temperature protection, couple breaking protection, and power-off upon opening the door, combined with a double-layer furnace shell structure, the external surface temperature is reduced to avoid the risk of burns.
Energy saving and efficient: Ceramic fiber or alumina furnaces have low thermal capacity characteristics, which can quickly heat up and reduce energy consumption; The modular heating element design is easy to replace and reduces maintenance costs.

Summarize
The box type resistor muffle furnace has become a core equipment for laboratory material synthesis, chemical analysis, energy development, and educational research due to its high temperature processing capability, precise temperature control, and multifunctionality. Its application covers the entire chain from basic research to industrial mass production. When selecting, special attention should be paid to the temperature range (such as 1200 ℃ or 1700 ℃), furnace size, and additional functions (such as program temperature control and atmosphere protection) to match different experimental needs.