Laboratory ovens are extremely necessary both in the field of research and in serving industrial purposes. There are different types of laboratory ovens, with most of them having a temperature range of 25-300 degrees Celsius. These are machines used in sciences such as chemistry and biology, but also pharmaceuticals and forensics.

Of course, there are also specialized ovens that find a field of application in material processing, electronics, and the natural sciences; developing temperatures that exceed the already high limit of 300 degrees Celsius. In the following lines, you will find a brief analysis of their uses in the scientific and especially in the research field.

Types Of Lab Ovens

Standard Digital Ovens

These are the typical ovens that serve heating and drying. Their main characteristics are safety, precision, and control.

Heavy Duty Ovens

These are robust ovens reinforced with heavy-duty components to appear resistant to drying and curing. They are widely used in industrial applications.

Hot Box Ovens

They are not distinguished for their accuracy, but the good baking of the samples tested on them.

High-Temperature Ovens

These are machines that are manufactured to serve the specialized needs of scientific laboratories. They have reinforced insulation on the walls and doors of their cabinets, and apply temperatures above 500C. Their field of application is the aerospace industry.

Wax Melting Ovens

As their name suggests, these ovens serve to melt the wax and preserve it for the histological study of the anatomy of plants and animals.

What Are Ovens Used for in a Laboratory?

Die-Bond Curing

That is a process of hardening the chemical composition of the substances to be treated. The result of these mechanisms is the manufacture of adhesives, plastics, and rubbers that are mainly used in nanotechnology, polymer research, and semiconductor industries. Due to the increased strength of the said bond, the attachment of components directly to circuits is very simple, so it is preferred in military, space, and medical systems.

Annealing

Annealing is a process characterized by a successive series of cooling and subsequent heating of materials, such as steel and glass to finally increase ductility and reduce their hardness. High-temperature ovens find applications in materials science, the manufacture of medical machines, metallurgy, and in the production of objects such as syringes and catheters.

Polyimide Baking

During this process, the polyimide enters the oven in liquid form and is baked until a thin film of adhesion, or microchip bonding is formed.

Sterilizing

That is the most obvious task performed by a laboratory oven. Its temperatures vary based on the material to be sterilized; for glass objects the maximum tolerance temperature is 60C.

After the oven has finished operating, a reasonable cooling period is required, to avoid cracks during the removal of the objects. In addition, slow cooling prevents potentially pathogenic airborne microorganisms from entering the oven.

Drying

Drying and dehumidification are methods required in most clinical and biological laboratories. The samples that break easily are those in which forced air and vacuum ovens are used. Thus, the sample dries at lower temperatures.

Other Uses

Laboratory ovens can also be used to analyze structural material characteristics, such as deformation, elasticity, tensile strength, and solder strength on circuit boards.

In addition, they find application in forensic laboratories, for the development of fingerprints, as well as in biological laboratories for the removal of microbiological contaminants, and the attachment of substrates to the surface of filters.