Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Welding copper.

It's been on a busier side during the last few weeks, but I finally got some time to post something new. We had to do some autoclave-kind experiments, but in a much faster and simpler way. So, the ampules provided the solution, once again. Due to very harsh target conditions, my favorite material, glass, had to give way to copper. First, 1/4'' inch copper tube was flattened:Then came the welding itself. Welding torch was used, fed with natural gas/oxygen. You can see the inner cone very well on this photo. The hottest part of the flame is just over the tip of this inner blue cone, and that's what does the welding. It is interesting to note that the inside of the cone is pretty cold (the coldest part of the flame).In a few seconds, copper melts and even starts burning a little, giving the sparks and this green flame: And the seal is done:Here is an ampule after the experiment, you can definitely see the difference:
It's a lot simpler and faster than autoclave, that's for sure.

No comments: