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Polycrystalline samples preparation by arc metling
by Konrad Wochowski
The arc furnace is designed for melting samples with total mass up to about 3 g in an electric arc, i.e. at temperatures up to about 3000 C.
The furnace consists of: (i) a synthesis chamber, (ii) a freely movable, water-cooled tungsten electrode, and (iii) a dismountable, water-cooled copper multi-crucible plate (it allows to prepare more than one sample within one experiment!). The system is also equipped with (iv) a vacuum-pump station (in order to pump out the air from the chamber), (v) a purified-argon-gas line (in order to make syntheses in an oxygen-free atmosphere, and to make possible the electrical breakdown), (vi) a cold water line (in order to cool down the electrode and the crucibles), and (vii) a high-current power supply.
