Carius Tube Testing
Our UK laboratory generates thermal screening and reaction calorimetry test data for your hazardous materials or potentially hazardous reactions. The Carius tube apparatus can be used as a small-scale screening tool to investigate exothermic activity and gas generation in your processes.
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Frequently asked questions
What is your standard methodology?
Recognised industry standard test, developed first at ICI and AstraZeneca hazard labs, and included in ABPI and IChemE publications on Chemical Reaction Hazard Assessment.
What is the Carius Tube test?
The Carius tube apparatus is used as a small-scale screening tool for thermal stability. It is primarily undertaken to investigate exothermic activity and identify the pressure effects of permanent gas generation. The Carius tube can also aid in the detection of exothermic activities such as onset temperatures.
How does the Carius Tube test work?
The Carius tube apparatus works by placing approximately 10 g of a test material in a heavy-walled sealed glass tube and then placing it in an oven. The oven temperature is then increased at a controlled rate (typically 0.5 °C/min). The temperature and pressure of the test cell are then detailed and recorded to assess the thermal stability of the sample upon heating.
What does Carius Tube data do?
A differential temperature reading between the sample and baseline of the oven can indicate and quantify energetic events, and whether they are exothermic or endothermic. A plot of Ln (pressure) versus the reciprocal of temperature can also indicate the onset temperature of gas generation.
What are the benefits of the Carius Tube test?
The Carius Tube test can quickly identify thermal regions of interest (exothermic events, structural changes, permanent gas generation), which can then in turn be investigated in more detail using adiabatic or more precise techniques. It is often run as a screening test complimentary to DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry), as it provides the valuable pressure data not available from the DSC.