We recieved an email from a chemical engineer who was developing ways to study the desorption kinetics of liquid amines and was interested in using a custom piece of glassware to perform these experiments. A good introductory description was provided, as well as a sketch;

"Amines will be flowed along a 15° V, about 1-1.5” high and 6” long. The V would be contained so that airflow can be controlled and/or off-gassing can be sampled. The amine would be heated to about 80°C while flowing through the V. The amine in the V would also be sampled to measure the desorption concentration and viscosity gradient."

After a number of emails about the pitfalls and details, we settled on a design very close to the initial sketch.

The amounts of material being introduced were to be small, and targeted for the bottom of the V channel; 1/4"-28 glass threads filled the bill. A port was added for a cartridge heater, mocked up on the right.

GL14 threads provide options to flow gas into and out of the airspace above the V, as well as sampling ports at the top of the container, to be capped or allow for rubber septa attachment for syringe sampling. The top porting was inspired by previous work found in our gallery.

The glass-only image on the right shows the side exit ports; a 1/4"-28 glass thread for amine flow out, and GL14 for gas flow across the top, which can be easily capped-off if necessary. 

The functional heart of the design is the 15° "V" profile that is intended to provide surface tension and to locate material flow. A graphite mold was provided by the client, and a small plate of glass was slumped over the form in an oven.

An intial concern was structural issues around "sharp edges" - a scenario in glass that is problematic. A couple of tests demonstrated the feasability of the approach.