[Jewelry making - Article 01357] - Re: [Orchid] Inert environment in the kiln

[nick]

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    Electric furnaces are oxidising atmospheres. You can get electric
    kilns that can have argon pumped through them to give an inert
    atmosphere but they tend to be rather pricey. Gas kilns can be
    reducing, oxidising or inert depending upon how the gas/air vents are
    set. you can turn an electric kiln into a reducing or inert
    atmosphere by placing carbon in the kiln to remove the oxygen. This
    shortens the life of the elements considerably but is otherwise easy
    and cheap to do. you can also encapsulate your work piece in
    something that will keep air away from it, for small pieces I put
    them into a sealed quartz tube under vacuum, ( quartz melts at 1400c
    so oxy propane torch needed-alright for my scientific bits but very
    time consuming. Larger pieces can be wrapped in Ti or Mo foil to act
    as a "getter" for the oxygen or you could put your work in a
    stainless steel box with a source of carbon for even bigger pieces.
    this last mathod reduces the wear and tear on your elements. 

Nick
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