Curing, storing and conditioning, degassing, ageing. Our vacuum oven VO can do much more than just dry gently and carefully. With this brochure, we want to give you an impression of interesting applications for industry and research. Additional information can be gathered from the user platform, www.atmosafe.net!

Many favourable factors can be listed for our vacuum oven VO! Its multitasking, its precision, its comfort, its sturdiness and its unique product features:

Working gently and quickly: Ramp programming in combination with direct heating of shelves

Saving time: effortless and precise work through digital programmable pressure control

Saving money: including Celsius software for simple programming and documentation

10 years young and still unrivalled!

Diversity is the key factor Storing, drying and evacuating in a vacuum

Our vacuum ovens could tell a lot of exciting stories. In some of them, metallic components for ultra-high-resolution cameras are stored prior to assembly, to avoid oxidation. In others, ink cartridges are fi lled without qua-lity being impaired by annoying air bubbles, and in yet other vacuum ovens, rapid in-vitro diagnostic tests are dried. Many processes running in our vacuum ovens are crucial for quality and competitiveness, and are therefore also highly classifi ed. Nevertheless, some of our customers were able to provide an insight into their applications. Thank you very much for this!

Precision in the vacuum is crucial for quality and competitiveness

© hisks@sxc.hu

Development of polymer membranesDrying and degassing in the vacuum

Vacuum is indispensable in researchOne research project of the Nanoscience Institute of Aragón of the Univer-sity of Zaragoza dealt with the development of a membrane with improved permeability and selectivity. A vacuum is required twice for the various experiments. On the one hand, residual humidity must be removed from the basic material polysulfone in the vacuum for four hours at 100 °C before it is combined with the silica fi ller material, on the other the membrane fi lms which have been dried at room temperature are degassed at 10 bar and 100 °C for one day in the vacuum drying oven to remove the solvent remaining from the polymer production.

In the subsequent examinations, it can be seen that with the material combination selected the proportion of fi ller can be kept low, although gas permeability and selectivity could be improved. The scientifi c publication is available from ACS Publications. The complete application report, along with a glossary, can be read at www.atmosafe.net.

The fuel cell in the vehicle is just one of many fi elds of application for the polymer membrane

© imageproduction.nl

For most of us, the term polymer membrane probably is about as mysterious as the theory of relativity. Still, these nanometre or micrometre membranes, used to separate substances and for fi ltration, are one of the front runners in environmental technology. Among other things, biogas is processed by CO² separation to be used as a fuel, seawater is desalinated in a more energy-saving manner than with older methods, and in the fuel cell of a vehicle, the polymer membrane is responsible for both gas separation and for conducting protons.

A growing market for environmental technology

The scanning electron microscope clearly illustrates the homogeneity and morphology of the fi ller

silica in the membrane with an 8 and 12 % weight proportion

© Institute of Nanoscience Zaragoza

Team of the Nanoscience Institute of Aragón, from the left Ms. Patricia Gorgojo,

Dr. Clara Casado, Ms. Beatriz Seoane, Prof. Joaquin Coronas, Mr. Alejandro Galve, Mr. Cesar Rubio,

Ms. Nuria Liedana, Dr. Juan Manuel Zamaro, Ms. Beatriz Zornoza, Ms. Sara Sorribas,

Prof. Carlos Tellez.

Not only its complex production makes titanium so valuable, but also the fascinating combination of all its qualities: As sturdy as steel, but consider-ably lighter, extremely corrosion-resistant, anti-magnetic and anti-allergenic. Many things that are supposed to be good and allowed to be expensive are made of titanium. Components for the automobile and aerospace industry, bicycles, jewellery and even building facades, such as on the world famous Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao are made of the precious metal. Unseen to the world, titanium improves the quality of life for millions of patients as a basic or coating material for medical implants.

Dehydration of titanium powder Drying in a vacuum

Titanium – indispensable for medical technology

The Nuremberg-based company GfE Metalle und Materialien uses two Memmert vacuum drying ovens to manufacture high purity titanium pow-der. Through the addition of hydrogen, the source material becomes brittle, and can be crushed mechanically. After this process step, the material is returned to its original state in a thermal process under a high vacuum. Since titanium in medical technology may not contain any ferromagnetic material whatsoever, tiny particles of iron, which rub off the grinding media during the crushing process, are now removed from the batches in an acid etching bath, and the batches are then dried in the vacuum drying oven. The two Memmert appliances run for 12 to 14 hours per day and evacuate three to four litres of water in each drying process.

The complex manufacturing process precisely defi nes the shape of the grain, thus ensuring the porosity, which enables the incorporation of the bone, and therefore the attachment of the biological implant in the human body. You can read the full user report at www.atmosafe.net.

Vacuum oven stands its ground in continuous operation

Defi ned morphology of titanium powder and titanium coating with optimum porosity

© GfE Metalle und Materialien

Corrosion-resistant, light and aesthetic: Facades made of titanium on the Guggenheim Museum

in Bilbao © fetcaldu@sxc.hu

Farmacéutica Paraguaya, in short, Fapasa, is the largest pharmaceutical export company in Paraguay. Apart from drugs for oncological, urological and gynaecological applications, the company also produces a large range of OTC products, nutritional supplements and painkillers. Using a Memmert vacuum oven VO, the department of quality assurance of the pharmaceuti-cal expert determines the dry content of the gel capsules in accordance with standard 731 of the USP (United States Pharmacopoeia), and the moisture content in accordance with USP 921. With conventional drying, the moisture content of the gel capsules would fall below the necessary percentage of between 13 and 16%, which is why the drying process takes place in a vacuum.

Pharmaceutical production Determining the solids content and moisture content in a vacuum

Quality assurance – an absolute must in the pharmaceutical industry

Fapasa is the largest pharmaceutical export company in Paraguay

It is no exaggeration that the Science Centre Weihenstephanof the Technical University Munich (in short, WZW) is referred to as the home of the agricultural, nutritional and environmental sciences in Germa-ny. Surrounded by Bavarian manufacturers of beer and milk rich in tradition, the WZW has long been a premium address for applied and practical research.

Students at the department of food processing engineering and dairy technology, for example, learn not only in theory about the various drying procedures for skimmed milk, full cream milk and whey powder, but they also have to perform these procedures themselves. The tests for vacuum drying are performed in the Memmert vacuum drying oven. At the end of the process, the powder is compared, in terms of water content, water activity, solubility, structure, taste, smell, consistence and colour with the samples from freeze drying and spray drying.

By the way: The fi rst coolable Memmert vacuum drying oven was built as a customised model for the WZW. Once the test phase has been completed, a detailed user report can be found at www.atmosafe.net.

Different drying procedures for milk powderDrying in the vacuum

Basic research in the Bavarian Lower Alps

Science Centre Weihenstephan © evah@sxc.hu

from the left Rita Schaupp (project engineer), Simon Bauer (project manager „vacuum drying“),

Iris Schmitz (project manager „milk powder“), Marianne Holzmann (technical assistant „vacuum

drying“), Dr. Petra Först (project manager „vacuum drying“, work-group manager bioprocess

technology)

While the fi rst components for switching electrical signals, from the year 1947, were only a little smaller than a matchbox, today, millions of transis-tors are stored on a single microchip just a few square millimetres in size. And miniaturisation is continuing. On the one hand, electronic appliances are being built ever smaller, making them more energy-saving and cheaper, on the other hand, microelectronics is permanently opening up new fi elds of application, such as in medical technology, with minimally invasive surgical procedures, laser surgery or even miniaturised endoscopes.

Casting electronic components Degassing in the vacuum

Miniaturisation in microelectronics will continue

In chip-on-board technology - here an example of chip-on-chip, bare dies are mounted directly on

the board and then cast © Microdul AG

The trend towards miniaturisation continues unabated © Microdul AG

The company Microdul AG, based in Switzerland, is a proven expert in the miniaturisation of electronic circuits, especially in the fi eld of medical technology. Space-saving bare dies must be protected from environmental infl uences (like temperature fl uctuations, humidity and mechanical impact), and are therefore cast with epoxy resin once they have been wired up on the circuit board. To avoid air pockets, the components at Microdul are degassed for a few minutes in a Memmert vacuum oven before they are hardened.

Degassing epoxy resin before it hardens

Did you know that the German Association of the Printed Circuit Board Industry (VdL e.V.) together with the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (ZVEI) in February 2008 com-piled a series of guidelines and recommendations concerning the “drying of PCBs prior to soldering” as well as “storage conditions for bare PCBs”, and published the fi ndings on its Internet page? This recommendation assumes a considerable reduction in the drying time in the vacuum, and, in addition, a lower drying tempe-rature – and therefore a reduced energy consumption.

Worth knowing

They have become an indispensable part of our daily lives, and polymers have even found their way into the art world. We pack our rubbish in polyethylene bags, we protect our heads when cycling with helmets made of polypropylene, polyamide made nylon and perlon stockings affordable for women from the 40s of the last century, and polyvinyl-chloride, better known as PVC, is, among other things, the basic material of modelling clay from which jewellery and other decorative objects are formed worldwide.

Development of modern polymer materialsDrying, conditioning, degassing and polymerisation in a vacuum

Our world is polymerPolymer clay goes art: Wonderful brooch in artichoke form © Eva Ehmeier, hoedlgut.at

Every day, new fi elds of application are found for polymers. Standard semiconductors, for example, are hazardous waste, due to the use of fl ame retardants, and cannot be recycled. A foamed, thermoplastic semiconductor, which can enter the cycle of reusability once its working life has ended, was therefore a practical and environmentally-friendly idea from the Chair for Polymer Materials at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, which is devoted to the development of modern polymers.

There are more than twenty Memmert appliances at the Chair for Polymer Materials, including several vacuum ovens for a wide range of applications. For determination of the water absorption, samples are conditioned in a vacuum at constant temperatures to determine the dry weight. Also freed of residual moisture is synthetic granulate as the basic material for extrusion or compound processes. As only high-quality samples can be characterised mechanically, reactive thermoset systems are degassed and sometimes also polymerised in a vacuum to avoid the formation of pores.

Many applications for the vacuum oven

Schematic structure of a foamed thermoplastic semiconductor © University of Bayreuth, Chair

for Polymer Materials

Memmert GmbH + Co. KG | POB 1720 | D-91107 Schwabach, Germany | Phone +49 (0) 9122 / 925 - 0Fax +49 (0) 9122 / 145 85 | E-mail: sales@memmert.com | www.memmert.com | www.atmosafe.net

Applications What happens in the vacuum? Examples of materials

Oxygen removal

Degassing solvents during embedding process

Gentle and residue-free drying in the vacuum

Determining humidity (Darr method), defi ning dry content

Air-tight storage and conditioning in the vacuum

Material tests

Hardening of polymers and compound materials

Ageing

Evacuation (removing air) of the workroom and of the samples introduced into this

Boiling and evaporating solvent in a vacuum and thus ensuring that histological tissues or castings are totally saturated with the moulding compound with no air present

Low pressure lowers the boiling point and allows liquids in the fi ller material to evaporate at a lower temperature

Determining the moisture content in a sample through full and complete drying and weighing

Defined storage of material without contact with oxygen to avoid oxidisation

Specifi cally infl uencing the behaviour of volatile components

Combining two components under increased temperature with simultaneous removal of oxygen

Examining the degradation of materials through dehydration, removal of oxygen and temperature infl uence

e.g. silicone rubber, casting resins, polymers

e.g. casting epoxy resins, impregnating in plastination and preparation

e.g. food, rubber, wafers, electronic components, restoring objects such as books, powder and granulates

e.g. food (dextrose, corn, coffee, milk), building materials, biomass, rock samples

e.g. bio-implants, semiconductors, electronic devices and components, food, samples in material research (polymers)

e.g. dealcoholisation of wine and sparkling wine, changes in smell of food

e.g. thin fi lms and layers

e.g. plastics, food, lubricants, coatings, microbiological and chemical samples

There is certainly a huge number of additional application possibilities. We would be very pleased if you report on your applications. Whatever the material, whatever the appliance and wherever you come from!

We would be pleased to discuss with you your individual task defi nition in order to fi nd a suitable solution in the context of our standard programme or our customised designs.

Overview of possible applications

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