Safety and Storage

Handling Rules for Liquid Nitrogen

Liquid nitrogen can be a dangerous substance if used incorrectly. To avoid any risks follow these safety precautions:

• KEEP the liquid nitrogen out of the reach of children.
• KEEP liquid nitrogen in Dewar bottles.
• USE the liquid nitrogen in well-ventilated areas only.
• USE protective glasses. USE tweezers to manipulate the experimentation objects.
• USE insulated gloves. DON’T touch any object cooled by liquid nitrogen with your bare hands before it has reached room temperature.
• DON’T allow liquid nitrogen to have any contact with your body.
• DON’T use liquid nitrogen on normal glass or plastic – they could shatter after being cooled by liquid nitrogen.

Cooling HTS Bulk Material

It is important to avoid thermal shocks which could cause cracks in material. Always try and pre-cool the superconductor pouring a small volume of liquid nitrogen on superconductor first. If possible, pre-cool the materilal in vapor of liquid nitrogen prior to its full immersing in the coolant bath.

After Use Care and Storaging

Superconductors are sensitive to moisture. If not handled properly they may lose their superconducting properties. After experiments always dry the superconductor carefully, let it warm up to room temperature and wipe any surface moisture or use a hair dryer. Superconductors must not be stored wet. The material must be dry before next use. (Any surface moisture could penetrate the material during successive cooling and thus cause cracks).