Howdy,
This one is just an anecdote that some people may find interesting.
Although I never heard of anyone having problems with latex tubing
during liquid N2 transfers, I always knew that they could break. After
more than two years of service, our latex tube did crack the other day.It wasn't spectacular at all when it happened, just a sharp 'snap!' and
that's it. Since we had the tube covered with armaflex insulation,
there was not much liquid N2 spewing all over the place. We just closedthe N2 tap, replaced the tube with an identical 'new' tube that we
always had as a backup, and kept going.
What was interesting was how the tube cracked. Initially I noticed a
longitudinal crack at the tip we plug into the magnet fill port. After
I took it out of the armaflex, I saw that the crack went from end to
end of the tube (almost six feet). That was pretty 'cool' as one of my
students put it. The whole 6 foot crack appeared in one instant. Neat.
As I said, just an anecdote for your Wednesday afternoon. I plan to
keep using these things (covered with armaflex). $20 bucks for two
years of service ain't bad...
Guillermo
+==================-------------------- - - -
Guillermo Moyna, PhD
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
600 South 43rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-4495
"The only existing things are atoms and empty space.
All else is mere opinion" - Democritus, 370 B.C.
Office: Griffith Hall 360
Phone: (215) 596-8526
Fax: (215) 596-8543
e-mail: g.moyna_at_usip.edu
WWW:
http://tonga.usip.edu/gmoyna/index.html
http://www.usip.edu/chemistry/faculty/moyna.asp
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Received on Thu Jun 19 2003 - 12:21:23 MST