A Hot Air Oven is a sterilizing machine which is used for sterilizing the instruments with the help of dry heat. It is also known as dry heat sterilization. A hot air oven is used for heating products at uniform temperatures. The airflow with heat from the Hot Air Oven by fusion product controls the humidity level by removing moisture. Microorganisms and bacterial spores can be simply destroyed by the Laboratory hot air ovens with precise temperatures. To kill microorganisms an oxidation method is involved, This process is used to kill microorganisms and they are oxidized.
It is mainly applicable to samples that are heat resistant. Successful sterilization can as it were to be accomplished when a suitable temperature and holding time are chosen depending on the type of microorganisms being sterilized. Louis Pasteur evolved the process of dry heat by using a Hot Air Oven. These air convection ovens have applications in many fields e.g. laboratory, medical, pharmaceutical and textile industries.
Hot Air Oven works on conduction and radiation. The heat is passed inside the next and absorbed by outside items in the process of conduction. To sterilize materials in hot air ovens 170 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes, 160 degrees Celsius for 60 minutes, and 150 degrees Celsius for 150 minutes are commonly used temperatures and times.
The Laboratory Hot Air Oven can be utilized to sterilize materials materials that don’t capture fire, soften, or alter shapes under high temperatures. Hot air ovens can sterilize glassware e.g. Petri dishes, flasks, pipettes, and test tubes, powder like starch, zinc oxide and sulfadiazine, oil-containing materials, metal apparatus scissors, scalpels and blades.
Materials like rubber-containing objects, plastic objects and dressing used in surgeries are not sterilized by Hot Air Oven.