1. Plastic centrifuge tubes
The advantage of plastic centrifuge tubes is that they are transparent or translucent, their hardness is small, and samples can be taken out by puncture. The disadvantage is that it is easy to deform, has poor corrosion resistance to organic solvents, and has a short service life.
Plastic centrifuge tubes have caps, which are used to prevent sample leakage, especially when used for radioactive or highly corrosive samples. It is very important to prevent sample leakage; the tube cap also has a function to prevent sample volatilization. And support the centrifuge tube to prevent deformation of the centrifuge tube. When choosing this point, you should also pay attention to check whether the tube cover is tight, and whether it can be tightly covered during the test, so as to achieve the inversion without leakage.
We all know that in plastic centrifuge tubes, the commonly used materials are polyethylene (PE), polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP), etc. Among them, polypropylene PP tubes have relatively good performance. Therefore, we are choosing plastic centrifuges. Whenever possible, consider polypropylene plastic centrifuge tubes.
Plastic centrifuge tubes are generally disposable laboratory instruments, and repeated use is not recommended. In order to save money, the PP centrifuge tube can be reused according to the situation, but it needs to be thoroughly sterilized by high temperature and high pressure to ensure the scientificity of the experimental results. Centrifuge tubes made of PE material cannot be sterilized at high temperature and high pressure.
The centrifugal force or recommended rotation speed that the product can withstand is generally indicated in the packaging or instructions of the plastic centrifuge tube. In order to ensure the safety of the experiment and reliable results, the centrifuge tube that matches the rotation speed requirements of the experiment should be selected.
2. Glass centrifuge tubes
When using glass tubes, the centrifugal force should not be too large, and rubber pads are required to prevent the tubes from breaking. Glass tubes are generally not used in high-speed centrifuges. The cap of the centrifuge tube is not closed well enough, and the liquid cannot be filled (for high-speed centrifuges and using an angle rotor) to prevent overflow and loss of balance. The consequence of spillage is to contaminate the rotor and centrifugal chamber, affecting the normal operation of the inductor. During ultracentrifugation, the centrifuge tube must be filled with liquid, because high vacuum is required for ultracentrifugation.
3. Steel centrifuge tubes
The steel centrifuge tube has high strength, no deformation, heat resistance, freezing resistance and chemical corrosion resistance. Try to avoid corrosion from these chemicals.
