Advantages of small tube furnaces for laboratory use

Small tube furnaces used in laboratories have become ideal tools for experiments in fields such as materials science and chemical engineering due to their advantages of precise temperature control, flexible atmosphere control, efficient sealing, and safe design. The following is a detailed explanation of its core advantages and specific application scenarios:

1. Accurate temperature control capability
High precision temperature control: Adopting PID intelligent temperature control system, the temperature control accuracy can reach ± 1 ℃, ensuring high consistency of experimental conditions. For example, in semiconductor material annealing experiments, the temperature needs to be precisely controlled at 1000 ℃± 2 ℃ to activate dopants and repair ion implantation damage.
Multi segment program temperature control: supports custom heating, insulation, and cooling curves to meet complex process requirements. When sintering metal materials, staged heating can be set (such as raising the temperature from 200 ℃/h to 800 ℃, holding for 2 hours, and then naturally cooling) to avoid cracking caused by thermal stress.
Uniform temperature field design: By optimizing the furnace tube structure and heating element layout, the length of the constant temperature zone can reach over 300mm, and the temperature uniformity is better than ± 5 ℃, ensuring uniform heating of all parts of the sample.

2. Flexible atmosphere control ability
Multi gas compatibility: supports inert gases (N ₂ Ar）、 The introduction of reducing gases (H ₂, CO) and reactive gases (O ₂, NH3) meets the requirements of different materials for atmospheric environment. For example, in ceramic sintering, N ₂ needs to be introduced to prevent oxidation, while in metal reduction experiments, H ₂ needs to be introduced.
High precision flow control: equipped with a mass flow meter (MFC), the gas flow control accuracy reaches ± 1% F.S., which can achieve precise adjustment of small flow rates (such as 1sccm). For example, in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) experiments, it is necessary to strictly control the flow rate of the reaction gas to control the film thickness.
Vacuum and positive pressure compatibility: The furnace tube can withstand a pressure range of -0.1MPa to 0.02MPa, supporting vacuum sintering (vacuum degree ≤ 10 ⁻ Pa) and positive pressure atmosphere experiments, expanding application scenarios.

3. Efficient sealing and safety design
Double layer water-cooled flange: Stainless steel flanges and high-temperature resistant silicone sealing rings are used at both ends of the furnace tube, combined with a water-cooled circulation system, to ensure high airtightness (leakage rate ≤ 1 × 10 ⁻⁹ Pa · m ³/s) at high temperatures (such as 1200 ℃) and prevent gas leakage.
Explosion proof safety valve: The furnace body is equipped with a pressure relief valve, which automatically releases pressure when the furnace pressure exceeds the set value (such as 0.03MPa) to avoid the risk of explosion. For example, in hydrogen atmosphere experiments, explosions caused by hydrogen accumulation can be effectively prevented.
Independent overtemperature protection: Set up a dual overtemperature alarm system (such as 1100 ℃ and 1150 ℃), which automatically cuts off the heating power when the temperature exceeds the threshold to prevent equipment damage.

4. Compact structure and convenient operation
Modular design: The furnace body, control box, and gas system adopt a split design, with a small footprint (such as 0.5m ²), making it easy to install on laboratory countertops or fume hoods. For example, a small tube furnace can be easily integrated into a glove box to achieve oxygen free operation under an inert atmosphere.
Touch screen control: Equipped with a 7-inch color touch screen, supporting interface switching between Chinese and English, it can display real-time parameters such as temperature, pressure, gas flow rate, and store historical data. For example, users can directly set the heating program through the screen without connecting to a computer.
Rapid heating and cooling: using efficient heating elements (such as silicon carbide rods), the heating rate can reach 20 ℃/min, shortening the experimental period. At the same time, the furnace body adopts lightweight insulation materials, which have a faster cooling speed than traditional furnace types.

5. Wide application compatibility
Wide coverage of material types: suitable for sintering, annealing, and heat treatment of metals (such as steel and aluminum), ceramics (such as Al ₂ O ∝ and ZrO ₂), semiconductors (such as Si and GaN), and polymer materials (such as polyimide). For example, in the post-processing of 3D printed metal parts, stress relief annealing can be achieved through a tube furnace.
Diverse types of processes: supporting various processes such as atmospheric pressure sintering, vacuum sintering, hot pressing sintering, reaction sintering, etc. For example, in the preparation of ceramic capacitors, it is necessary to remove pores and improve dielectric properties through vacuum sintering.
Interdisciplinary applications: not limited to materials science, but can also be used in fields such as chemical catalysis (such as catalyst carrier sintering), environmental science (such as pollutant pyrolysis), biomedical (such as bioceramic sintering), etc.

6. Low energy consumption and environmental characteristics
Efficient insulation material: The furnace body adopts multi-layer ceramic fiber felt insulation, which reduces heat loss and reduces power consumption in a single experiment compared to traditional furnace types.
Exhaust gas treatment interface: The furnace body is reserved with exhaust gas discharge ports, which can be connected to activated carbon adsorption devices or catalytic burners to treat harmful gases (such as CO and NOx) generated during experiments, meeting laboratory environmental requirements.
Long life design: Heating elements have a longer lifespan, furnace tubes have a longer lifespan, and long-term usage costs are reduced.