Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Scratched borosilicate

marko - 1-3-2012 at 22:58

I got some new glass today, and a boiling flask has a couple 1cm scratches in it.. not amazingly deep, but you can feel it with your fingernail.

I'm new to this, and know that scratched glass isn't safe, but how scratched I don't know...

Bot0nist - 1-3-2012 at 23:07

Cracked glass is usually trash. Superficial scratches shouldn't significantly weaken the piece. Most of my RBF have a lot of external scratches, but have held up fine even with heavy use. Scratches on the inside can make for hard cleaning. Most scratches are from sand baths in my experience. I use copper BBs instead now when ever I can.

Pulverulescent - 2-3-2012 at 07:39

Quote:
Cracked glass is usually trash. Superficial scratches shouldn't significantly weaken the piece.

Cracked glassware is just unusable, IMO, and scratches will weaken the glass so that it's vulnerable when under vacuum or pressure ─ even sudden temperature changes could cause it to crack.
I'd be looking for a refund if new glass came damaged in any way . . .

Hexavalent - 3-3-2012 at 07:43

As would I . . .when buying new, you pay for new, undamaged equipment which is resistant for the task it is designed for. Better a $5 shipping charge to send it back than a $500 charge for plastic surgery.

marko - 4-3-2012 at 01:31

If I could find the bloody charger I'd take a picture... looking at it again it's pretty unnoticeable, maybe I'm being overly cautious.

I don't think I'll be doing any vacuum work any time soon, mostly just got it to piss around with some learner distillation, so I suppose mostly water bath stuff... nothing really particular in mind.

Guess I'll keep it in mind and drop some cash on something expensive if I plan on working with anything more than mildly dangerous, or in a situation where it is under more strain...