Muffle furnace and tube furnace are two commonly used heat treatment equipment in the laboratory, they each have different characteristics and uses, the following will mainly introduce the difference between these two furnaces.
First of all, from the morphological point of view, muffle furnace is rectangular or square, built-in heating elements and insulation materials, with excellent heat preservation performance. Tube furnaces, on the other hand, are long and cylindrical and are usually made of high-temperature alloys. Tube furnaces can be used to adjust the temperature distribution and temperature gradient by adjusting the position and number of heating elements inside the furnace. Therefore, compared with muffle furnaces, tube furnaces have greater flexibility and plasticity.
Secondly, from the scope of application, muffle furnace is mainly used for ashing, carbonisation and other treatment processes of specimens at high temperature. As the muffle furnace has better airtight performance and temperature stability, it can be operated in an inert atmosphere or reducing atmosphere to avoid the oxidation of the specimen. The tube furnace, on the other hand, is mainly used for solid-phase reaction, chemical vapour deposition and other thermochemical reaction processes. Tube furnaces have a wider range of applications because they can perform a wide range of gas flow experiments.
Finally, in terms of price and maintenance, muffle furnaces are usually cheaper and easier to maintain than tube furnaces. However, if larger sizes or quantities of specimens need to be processed, it may be necessary to choose a higher grade of muffle furnace, and therefore the price will increase accordingly. Conversely, tube furnaces are usually more expensive and more difficult to maintain due to their complex construction and manufacturing process.
In short, both the muffle furnace or tube furnace, are very important experimental equipment, their respective characteristics and scope of application need to be based on the actual needs to choose.