justtesting
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2010
- Messages
- 52
What you use for a UV source depends upon how long an exposure you want.
I am aware of someone doing something similar using "High Power LED UV flashlights". When I asked a person who knows him about the lamp specs, he responded with the quote "We at first used a very powerful UV lab unit consisting of….". He cut off the quote mid sentence, so my attempt to discover the power needed *or wavelengths) has not yet been productive. He then went on to say "[I feel] wiped-out, so I will end here for now because they go into a lengthy explanation/break down of UV light and what best to use with access to equipment. Also goes into costly investment, vs. cheaper hand lights that work good but take more time & batteries. Very interesting stuff)
I am salivating in anticipation of that breakdown, and once I get it I may be able to give you a good answer.
The only other thing I know is that because his friend wants to create something that can be reproduced by people without lab equipment, he decided to try hand held Led UV flashlights.
The problem with such flashlights is that the makers don't want to get sued for destroying anyone's sight Since you can't see UV light, you can't determine the brightness by looking at it, and if you did look at it you'd risk your sight unless the light source were relatively weak. It doesn't matter that they are called "High Power UV" flashlights. Have you ever heard of an apartment ad that said "cramped" instead of "spacious"?
With one of those flashlights and a homemade reflector, he exposed powder twice: First, mixed with an amount of 100% ip (Isopropanol) that sounds too small to me: "just barely Saturated") and left on a vibrator pad for 8 hours. then later, mixed with about 3 ounces of IPA and exposed for about 10 hours.
Again, I do not know the strength of those flashlights, but the flashlight makers are several power increases behind the latest LEDs. They are usually a couple of years behind in technology because the price drops whenever something better comes along, and they cpould not make much money selling an affordable flashlight using the latest technology. So for the same price as a UV flashlight, you can get a more powerful rawUV LED. You also have more control over the light. Unlike laser LED's which emit a single wavelength, ordinary LEDs emit light in a narrow range of wavelengths centered around a single frequency. Some may be centered around a wavelength that lies between vilet and UV, so that you get some UV, but also some violet, so that you can actually see some of the light. My recommendation would be avoid those because they waste power on visible light and instead to use several high power LEDs with different UV centered wavelengths. Alternately, a little research may reveal the wavelength that is best for degrading PolyOx, and just that wavelength need be used. Of course the person who used that flashlight just used whatever he could find cheaply, so you don't need to be exact.
What I really wish I knew was what wavelength and power his UV flashlight was rated for. And failing that, the brand and model number, or if the model number was thrown out with packaging, what the suggested retail price was (so I can try to research it). Combining our knowledge of the exposure times he used with the specs of his UV source will tell us what LED specs to use for different exposure times, and let us be able to give the reader an idea of how much it would cost. Of course we know that higher power will mean shorter exposure times but higher costs, but we'd like to have ballpark figures.
