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Both physical and chemical effects come into play either separately or in
combination.
Physical Effects
Physical effects come into play where the physical properties of the gas
or gases will either be the main concern of the process or will help or
inhibit the process.
Pressure Differential
If gas molecules are removed from a pipe or vessel, there will be fewer
impacts between molecules and a surface than would occur on the
outside of the vessel where it is exposed to the atmosphere. The fewer
the molecules, the fewer the collisions, and the lower the total force that
will result. As with many physical effects, this can also be used to
measure the pressure by using the pressure differential to apply a force
that is proportional to the pressure. This is easily
To To
unknown reference
demonstrated by the U-tube manometer where a
pressure pressure liquid column is balanced against atmospheric
pressure by reacting to the differential pressure to
result in a measurable liquid column height as
shown in Figure 1.
∆h
torr vs psi
Heat Transfer
3
Heat transfer at atmospheric pressure
10
is predominantly effected by either di-
10
2 rect transfer during gas molecule-to-
molecule collisions or by molecular
10
1 motion convection. If two objects at
differing temperatures are placed in a
0 chamber at atmospheric pressure,
torr
10
Heat will begin to flow from the hotter
10
-1
to the colder through the gas
molecules; but if the pressure is
10
-2
reduced by removing some of the gas
molecules, the distance between the
-3
10
10 -5 10 -4 10 -3 10 -2 10 -1 10 0 10 1 10 2
molecules will become longer and the
psi number of molecular collisions will
become smaller resulting in a
Figure 2. Pressure differential in psi vs. pressure in reduction of heat flow. Lowering the
torr. thermal conductivity of the heat
transfer medium (gas molecules) will
mean that the hotter object will tend to retain its heat. If the pressure is
continually reduced, the heat flow will also be continually reduced.
Thus, the vacuum between the hot and cold objects will become a
thermal insulator with the degree of insulation determined by the degree
of vacuum (paucity of molecules) between them. This insulating effect
of vacuum leads to a number of practical applications. Perhaps best
known is the venerable dewar flask or thermos bottle shown in Figure 3
that is commonly used to keep things hot or cold. This easily leads to
other applications such as transfer lines for liquefied gases that are
surrounded by an annular tube with a vacuum
between the tubes to prevent heat from reaching
the liquid and causing vaporization.
Vacuum
Insulation
As with mechanical effects from pressure
differentials, thermal conductivity can be used as a
pressure gauging technique where a wire is heated
by the application of constant power and the heat
loss of the wire is indicated by its temperature
which is either measured directly (thermocouple
gauge) or by its resistance (pirani gauge).
Hot or
Cold
Material The same effects as found with thermal
conductivity can also be applied to sound or
electrical insulation with some specific complex
differences.
Vaporization
Figure 3. Dewar flask schematic view.
Virtually any material will vaporize if you get it hot
enough, but vacuum processes tend to be mostly
concerned with the vaporization of fluids. A fluid that has any volatility at
all at room temperature will vaporize sooner or later at atmospheric
pressure. In terms of a practical process, sooner will usually be better
than later, so means to increase the vaporization rate can be important.
Since vaporization is really molecules of the liquid leaving the surface
and not returning as liquid, increasing the rate of vaporization will mean
increasing the number of molecules leaving in a given time.
95
torr
90 500
Chemical Effects
85
Boiling Point 400 Chemical effects come into play in most
80
cases where the chemical reactivity and
300 properties of the gases will either help or
75 inhibit a process. This often concerns not
70 200 only the particular gases in question, but also
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 their respective concentrations.
altitude, ft
Protection
Since many materials are subject to chemical reactions with air, it
becomes necessary to remove molecules from the vicinity of the surface
being processed. The only reasonable way to do this is to place the
material in a chamber and use the atmosphere, or lack of it, to protect
the material from a chemical reaction. In this case, the number of
molecules of chemically reactive gas impacting the surface would be of
prime concern.
Conclusions
Bell Jar It is apparent, then, that all
vacuum processes have
Vacuum
particular requirements in terms
of the number of residual
Substrate molecules, and of course, the
identity of those molecules in
terms of chemical activity. An
understanding of the reasons
why those molecular effects in
High-current terms of their pressure, number
feedthrough of molecules, distance between
molecules, number of molecular
collisions, or number of collisions
of molecules with a surface can
Filament
lead to a better understanding of
Pump the process under consideration.
Further thinking about the effects
can then lead to a better process
as improvements are
Figure 5. System for simple filamentary evaporation of c o n t em p l a t e d wi t h t h e s e
aluminum. selfsame effects in mind.
Further, considering the
molecules can open better ways to communicate that understanding of
the process.