Carbon Fiber Filament Quartz Tube

Carbon Fiber Filament Quartz Tube

Let’s Talk About Carbon Fiber Quartz Tubes

We make these tubes for those high-intensity infrared (IR) jobs where the usual tungsten filaments just can’t keep up. By swapping metal for a carbon fiber filament tucked inside high-purity quartz, we’ve found a way to change how heat actually hits your workpiece.

Getting the Heat Right

Here is the thing about carbon fiber: it spreads heat much more evenly across the tube than those old-school coils. When you’re picking your wattage and voltage, you’re basically playing a balancing act. You want massive heat density, but you have to be careful not to push the quartz past its breaking point. If your housing or cooling system can’t handle the heat rise, the quartz will crack. Simple as that.

Why Quartz and Carbon?

The quartz shell does two big jobs. It keeps the filament from oxidizing (burning up) and lets that shortwave IR radiation fly right through without getting trapped. We went with carbon fiber because it handles the “stretch and shrink” of heating and cooling way better than metal. If you’re constantly flipping the power on and off, these tubes won’t burn out nearly as fast. Then there’s the wiring. Whether you need R7s or SK15, we stick to the industry standards so they just drop right in. But a word of warning: if you’re swapping these into a PET blower or a shrink tunnel,**double-check your pin alignment.**A loose connection at the base will cause an arc, and that’ll kill your tube in a heartbeat.

Putting Them to Work

These things warm up fast. Really fast. In plastic welding or PET bottle blowing, you need the material to hit its glass transition temperature in a matter of seconds. Carbon filaments get there way quicker than ceramic heaters ever could. Just keep in mind that they’re fragile. Treat them with care. If you bump them or get oily fingerprints on the quartz, you’ll create a “hot spot.” Once that happens, the tube is going to fail a lot sooner than it should.