The ideal temperature of hot air oven needs to reach is at least 160°C and the contents need to be regulated in this heat for 45 to 60 minutes. The contents must not be removed from the oven immediately as a slow cooling period is necessary – ideally when the temperature has reduced down to 50°C, but no less. For the purpose of routinely drying glassware a lower temperature of 60°C is acceptable.
The device is ideal for the heat operation ranging from 50 degrees to 250 degrees Celsius. The glassware which are used in labs includes test tubes, flasks, cylindrical measuring tubes, connecters, tumbler, Petri dishes and what not. All these containers are used to conduct high temperature testing and experiments. They deal with direct heat or dry heat. They are even exposed to strong chemicals. During these tests, it is very important that the glass material do not develop any form of cracks.
For instance, a glass test tube is taken for heating a solution and due to its poor resistance towards heat, it cracks and break opens the solution within falls on the fire and due to its reactive nature it results in an explosion. Loss of material, loss of life. To avoid such incident lab operators prefers best quality glassware which can assure strength and durability for a long time run.
Hence, the manufacturers of such glasswares must first test their products in elevated temperature. Hot air oven is used to test the physical behavior of glass material. The glass specimen are kept on the standard sized trays of oven and locked. Then the temperature and time is set.
