STUDY: Conductive PFA H2 Tubing is Optimal Choice for Gas Sampling Applications

With 40 years of experience in the fluoropolymer industry, we understand the importance of evolving. To ensure that we retain our glowing reputation as a reputable, knowledgeable fluoropolymer manufacturer, our tubing is constantly the subject of both internal and external testing. One such external test was just completed by the excellent researchers at the University of Colorado and Aerodyne Research, Billerica, MA.

For this test, the researchers at the University of Colorado and Aerodyne Research, Billerica, MA examined our PFA H2 (conductive PFA) tubing. The research team concluded that this tubing was amongst the best of the candidates tested for gas transfer. It earned this distinction due to it providing the lowest losses of gas phase compounds and delays in their transport through the tubing. The way the tests monitored delays in response time was through a measurement of the effecting step changes and a look at increases or decreases in organic compound concentrations.

The antistat property of PFA H2 tubing provides the needed charge dissipation required for aerosol sampling in the presence of charged particles. Our tubing, which was referred to as C-PFA in the official research paper, was said to “combine low interaction with gases with the electrical conductivity needed to sample particles, and is therefore an optimal choice for applications that require joint gas plus aerosol sampling line.”

The full article from atmos-meas-tech.net is entitled, Measurements of delays of gas-phase compounds in a wide variety of tubing materials due to gas-wall interactions.

The reason these tests are done is because the losses of gas-phase compounds or delays of their transfer through tubing are important for atmospheric measurements and also provide a method to characterize and quantify gas-surface interactions.

Results of the tests confirmed our belief that PFA and FEP both have shorter polymer chain lengths and increased chain entanglements compared to PTFE. This external test only reinforced what Fluorotherm has always known. Our products help ensure the smallest amounts of leakage to ensure the high quality levels necessary for tubing in a number of different industries.