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Ceramic impervious to gasoline?

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LAN_403

Mon Jan 15 2007, 11:35PM

Banned on April 7, 2007
Registered Member #277 Joined: Fri Mar 03 2006, 10:15AM
Location: Florida
Posts: 157

I'm doing a bit of research into characteristics of various liquids and ferro-liquids under different test conditions. Won't bore you with the details now, but might post the results if anything interesting occurs. My tests conditions require an oddly shaped container to temporarily house various small test samples of liquids such as water, isopropyl alcohol, acetone, gasoline, petrolium, corn oil, ferro-liquids, etc. I am concerned about the corrosive liquids like gasoline and acetone reacting harshly with some of the plastic containers that I would normally use made from PVC. (I am assuming gasoline housed in a PVC container would be a very bad idea) I realize that the oddly shaped custom designed container could be hand crafted by a custom glass house (I subcontracted another project to a custom glass house) but it would be costly and there could be some design alterations required later, making it even more costly. So I am considering asking a Ceramic maker to fabricate this container. Low cost, easy to mold, and if mods are required, not an arm and a leg to make a 2nd container with the mods. I've googled but can't find a direct answer yet to these two questions and will appreciate the benefit of your knowledge. Question #1) will a ceramic container such as typically hand made at ceramic "pot" shops be impervious to gasoline and acetone at one atmosphere? Question #2) should the ceramic container be glazed or non-glazed? Thanks in advance. CM

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Mon Jan 15 2007, 11:55PM

Registered Member #56 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445

I would say that as long as it was glazed you should be fine.

Although it seems like it would be painfully expensive...

Tue Jan 16 2007, 02:56PM

Banned on April 7, 2007
Registered Member #277 Joined: Fri Mar 03 2006, 10:15AM
Location: Florida
Posts: 157

Thanks for the reply. Finally found a url that reports acetone, paint removers, cleaning solvents, acids won't harm glazed ceramic, url below. On the cost topic, I've farmed out semi-complex glass container designs to glass fabricators before, that is when the real pain sets in. A ceramic equivilent, although not transparent, should be pennies on the dollar and can usually be made in a few hours by any competent pottery person at your local pottery store such as "All Fired Up" down here in the south. CM

Billybobjoe

Tue Jan 16 2007, 11:23PM

Registered Member #396 Joined: Wed Apr 19 2006, 12:55AM
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 176

Gasoline and PVC isn't a bad combination as one might think. I'm a member on the Spudtech forum and another well respected member performed an experiment to test if gasoline was a safe (not corrosive) fuel for use in a PVC launcher, and after a saoking for 54 hours it showed no difference in strength. Acetone, however may be a problem, but now you only need one ceramic pot

Self Defenestrate

Tue Jan 16 2007, 11:53PM

Registered Member #87 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 01:36PM
Location: San Jose
Posts: 191

I'd personally go for teflon where possible.

Thu Jan 18 2007, 02:20PM

Banned on April 7, 2007
Registered Member #277 Joined: Fri Mar 03 2006, 10:15AM
Location: Florida
Posts: 157

Is aluminum uneffected by gasoline or acetone? Not sure what type metal that small portable gasoline cans are made of, but seems to be thin, aluminum type metal. CM

Steve Conner

Thu Jan 18 2007, 02:25PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

Well, car engines are made at least partly of aluminium, and have gasoline in them. In my experience of messing around with chemicals, I always got the impression that metals aren't hurt by organic solvents like gas, alcohol, oil or acetone at all. And likewise, plastics don't seem to be attacked by ionic solvents like water, acids and caustics.

Acetone is about the meanest thing you listed, and gas the second meanest, but they only attack some plastics. Others can stand them fine. I've seen car and truck fuel tanks made of plastic, and acetone stored in plastic bottles. I can't remember which plastics are the good ones, though. SD is surely right about Teflon, but there must be a cheaper option.

Electroholic

Thu Jan 18 2007, 04:24PM

Registered Member #191 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 02:01AM
Location: Esbjerg Denmark
Posts: 720

wash bottles in labs are made of LDPE, and we put acetone in them.

Bored Chemist

Thu Jan 18 2007, 05:59PM

Registered Member #193 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 07:04AM
Location: sheffield
Posts: 1022

We use LDPE wash bottles for acetone in our labs; we replace the frequently because the plastic goes brittle.
Teflon is lovely stuff provided that someone else is paying.
I'm a bit surprised than nobody has pointed out that glazed ceramics are coated with glass and are therefore resistant to anything that glass resists. Provided that the ceramic is strong enoug, if you can get what you want, cheap, in glazed pottery then I'd go for it.
BTW, Aluminium reacts with some organics, notably some alcohols and halogenated solvents.

Fri Jan 19 2007, 01:59AM

Banned on April 7, 2007
Registered Member #277 Joined: Fri Mar 03 2006, 10:15AM
Location: Florida
Posts: 157

Update: The ceramics guy told me this particular container is a bit too complex for him to fab out of ceramic (boohoo), so the cheap way is out. So, I've contracted an aluminum contractor to make it for me. It's a kinda interesting project, it involves gravity, magnetism, and bouyancy characteristics of different liquids. Admittedly, its a fringe area idea, but if it shows any promise, I'll post it here. If not, I'll hide my failure by silence

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