Dalibor,
As an expert on the materials used in the manufacture of nixie tubes, would you
recommend any method of cleaning or neutralizing the corrosion of the pins and
seals? Is there any chemical that could neutralize the chemical reaction of
the pins which would slow down the process?
Sometimes parts are shipped in bags with materials that protect the finish. In
my early days with Texas instruments, IC’s were all shipped with a silver
plating on pins which would tarnish badly if the shipping bags were unsealed
and they often shipped them in containers with a chemical that was more
chemically active in air to remove sulfides and etc to prevent tarnishing.
They also used coated shipping rails that were static resistant with corrosion
inhibitors. Might there be something that could be placed inside a clock
housing which would sacrifice itself to prevent oxidation/corrosion of the tube
pins?
From: neonixie-l@googlegroups.com [mailto:neonixie-l@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Dalibor
Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2016 3:32 AM
To: neonixie-l
Subject: [neonixie-l] Re: IN-18 Typical Failure Mechanism
I guess it is a leak along one of the pins, dumet seals can corrode (it is a
copper plated nickel-iron wire). I would be interested to do a leak test on a
helium leak detector. Of course if you can miss the tube.
Just a very small (tiny tiny!) amount of air is enough to ruin the balance of
the gas inside a nixie tube. Less than one would actually think.
Dalibor
Dne pátek 8. července 2016 20:48:04 UTC+2 Jeff Walton napsal(a):
I recently had a IN-18 failure in a clock after about 2.5 year operation. Over
a (4) day period, the digits in one of the tubes stopped working in PWM dimmed
mode. At full brightness, the digits in the affected tube slowly lost
percentages of digit coverage to where only portions of each digit would
illuminate. At the end of the observed period, the digits in the failing tube
went completely dark and even higher voltage on the bench would not illuminate
any of the cathodes. The tube date code was 8505.
I am guessing that absent of any other signs of damage, a seal around one of
the pins has failed and allowed the tube to leak. It was surprising how
quickly it failed and none of the other tubes in the same clock have exhibited
any signs of trouble and look as good as the first day of operation. Has
anyone experienced similar failures with the IN-18? Is this a typical failure
mechanism? Have there been any particular date codes that others have found to
be problematic?
The tube has been since been replaced and the clock is happy again but
curiosity leads me to ask about this experience to the rest of the members of
the group. FYI - these tubes have not been rotated since the clock was
initially put into operation (no handling). There was never any evidence of
cathode poisoning during the operation of the clock.
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