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Autoclaves / Sterilisators

An autoclave is a gas-proof, sealable pressure vessel which is used for the thermal treatment of substances in the overpressure range. The thermal treatment is carried out gradually, due to the characteristic sealing off against the atmosphere. The pressure vessels dispose of quick-release seals which enable rapid opening and closing.

Operational area of autoclaves

Autoclaves are used for sterilising, hardening of building materials, vulcanising of tyres and strap tapes as well as for grouting of fiber composite products. They are applied in medical technology, food technology, biology, glass industry, aviation industry, stone factories and by vulcanisers. Basically, there are autoclaves for small application volumes, as well as for large production amounts.

Application in medical technology

There are basically two possibilities to carry out a sterilisation: the vacuum process and the flow or gravitational process. In the vacuum process, the air is removed by repeated evacuating. If the flow or gravitational process is applied, however, the air is pressed off by saturated steam.

Application in chemistry

All actions by which gases are forced to react under pressure are carried out in an autoclave. Hydrogenation with hydrogen and hydrolytic splitting of fats in soap production and vulcanising may be mentioned as examples. Another operational area is the production of plastics, as for example polyethylene.

Fiber composite production

One important operational area is the production of fiber composite materials. For this application, autoclaves must be able to produce pressures of up to 10 bar and temperatures of up to 400 °C. The pressure is created by compressors. Another possibility is the application of pressure tanks. The high pressure is required to press the individual laminate layers. Synthetic resin in the fiber composite part is hardening when exposed for several hours to a temperature of 100 to 250 °C.

Literature

• http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atomspektroskopie&oldid=85044962 (called: 30.03.11).

• http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atomabsorptionsspektrometrie&oldid=86725842 (called: 30.03.11).

• http://www.chemgapedia.de/vsengine/vlu/vsc/de/ch/16/anac/aaseinf.vlu.html (called: 30.03.11).

• http://www.chemgapedia.de/vsengine/vlu/vsc/de/ch/16/anac/aasanwend.vlu.html (called: 30.03.11).