Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Firebrick and Inert Gas

DFliyerz - 18-2-2017 at 12:05

I'm planning to make an electrical resistance furnace using firebrick and resistance wire hooked up to a Variac, and I was wondering; do firebricks provide enough resistance to leaks to make it viable to install an inert gas port so I could pump argon or nitrogen in, and maintain a reasonable positive pressure without wasting a ton of gas?

elementcollector1 - 18-2-2017 at 13:04

Not at all, no. Gas-tight chambers are generally not constructed with loosely-placed components. Now, if you had an inner chamber that was made of welded steel, that would be a lot better.

Alternatively, you can use steel plumbing pipes and nickel-graphite anti-seize compound to get a vacuum seal at very high temperatures.

yobbo II - 18-2-2017 at 13:26

You could put the welded steel box on the outside either.