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Meet the Couple Photos: Elements of Our Wedding: Outline Logistics: Registry |
First Extraction Luckily Jose was there to take photos of this process. I then carefully opened the furnace and, with long tongs, very carefully grasped the assembly by the middle and backed away from the furnace:  Even at that distance, the front side of my body emitted a fair bit of black smoke, and the face shield started to melt on the bottom. I then quickly closed the furnace to avoid thermally shocking the heating elements:  
The heating elements in the furnace are made of a special ceramic. This
ceramic is excellent at resisting deformation and creep at high
temperatures, and does not oxidize even in air. This is why it is used
in high-temperature furnaces. However, it is VERY brittle! Even a
slight tap to one of these elements is enough to shatter it.
Alternatively, a sudden change in temperature can cause thermal
contraction to occur - when something changes size (density) during a
temperature change. Even this change in size can be enough to destroy a
very expensive heating element. That is why you must close the furnace
as soon as possible, to avoid sudden changes in temperature.
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