Atomizer death - a new theory
We all know that atomizers eventually die and it was long believed, reasonably enough, to be that the fine nichrome wire broke after the repeated stresses of expension and contraction, plus getting thinner as it slowly gets thinner with age.
Sun created a new theory about the final death - through examining many deceased atomizers he noticed that the nichrome wire had been disconnected at the the solder joint; his theory being that as the deposit on the coil grew bigger, it eventually pulled out the wire from the joint.
I think this may play a small part sometimes, but is not the main reason.
A well-soldered joint could not be pulled apart. Unless ... the joint had become weakened.
I believe the solder joint is weakened chemically (perhaps aided by heat) by the juice/vapor. In particular, tin is leached from the solder joint making it much softer and the join looser. Eventually, the electrical connection is lost (and the nichrome wire might even remove its leg from the joint to take up a more comfortable position (i.e. not necessarily with any great force exerted by the deposit growing in size).
The evidence for this - and also the inspiration, though it took a day for the implications to become apparent to me - was discovered by Exogenesis in his analysis of atomizer coil deposits (Analysis of the Black Gunk on Atomizer Coils). The results showed an unusual amount of the element tin within the deposit.
A possible solution is for pure silver solder to be used for connecting the nichrome wire heater coil or the use of a 'wire-wrap' technique for the join.
It remains uncertain what part of the juice causes the leaching of tin and by what reaction or other effect.
We all know that atomizers eventually die and it was long believed, reasonably enough, to be that the fine nichrome wire broke after the repeated stresses of expension and contraction, plus getting thinner as it slowly gets thinner with age.
Sun created a new theory about the final death - through examining many deceased atomizers he noticed that the nichrome wire had been disconnected at the the solder joint; his theory being that as the deposit on the coil grew bigger, it eventually pulled out the wire from the joint.
I think this may play a small part sometimes, but is not the main reason.
A well-soldered joint could not be pulled apart. Unless ... the joint had become weakened.
I believe the solder joint is weakened chemically (perhaps aided by heat) by the juice/vapor. In particular, tin is leached from the solder joint making it much softer and the join looser. Eventually, the electrical connection is lost (and the nichrome wire might even remove its leg from the joint to take up a more comfortable position (i.e. not necessarily with any great force exerted by the deposit growing in size).
The evidence for this - and also the inspiration, though it took a day for the implications to become apparent to me - was discovered by Exogenesis in his analysis of atomizer coil deposits (Analysis of the Black Gunk on Atomizer Coils). The results showed an unusual amount of the element tin within the deposit.
A possible solution is for pure silver solder to be used for connecting the nichrome wire heater coil or the use of a 'wire-wrap' technique for the join.
It remains uncertain what part of the juice causes the leaching of tin and by what reaction or other effect.
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