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CONSTRUCTION OF A "CHEMICAL RACK"

ABSTRACT

The project done was a metal chemical rack. The rack was made of steel, which is soft to cutting, blending and several other operations applied to the metal during construction.

The main purpose of constructing this metal rack is to be used for storing chemicals in the laboratory for easy accessibility and safe keeping.

The to tal cost of the constructional project was estimated at the sum of Ten thousand (#10,000.00). This includes fabrication, welding and painting cost. The chemical rack is relatively cheap and it is light in weight.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

A rack is used / set for holding or storing chemicals in the laboratory. They are of different types, such as plate rack ,toast rack and wine rack .but the one we shall focus our attention on will be that of “chemical rack “,which is used for storing chemicals in the laboratory or used in a chemical process .In the industries or laboratories .materials  are stored in the chemical rack refer to as chemical storage or facility for storage.

The material selection for the construction of any rack strongly depends on the properties and purposes that the rack will serve. Generally, considering all the metals and non-metals have their individual merits.  But point to comparison between them will definitely show that in general, metals have a lot of advantages over non-metals.

For example, while many type of metal are suitable for high temperature operation, non-metals such as wood and glass are suitable for lower and limited range of temperatures.  Metals posses a wider range of chemical stability than non-metals.

So, it can be said that the obvious advantage of first cost cheapness of non-metalic materials is counseled by other disadvantages of non-metals, the most glaring of which is that of narrow applicability.

When considering the cost also, the first cost of materials is even not taken as sufficient indicator on which to based the selection of construction materials.  The following cost factors among others must be considered.  Fabrication cost, installation cost, maintenance cost and cost of replacement.  These cost must be considered in the material selection for construction.

Rack derive its name and purpose sometimes from the material of construction and also the shape it takes.  Since rack built in homes are of woods or plastics usually used for storing drives and plates in the Kotchen.  Most racks used for domestic purposes such as keeping of dishes and provisions, are usually of wood and in this case there is no observation of all the operation involved in the construction of metal rack.  This is because of the soft nature in the cuing off of excess of wood during construction.  Instead the used of welding, nail is used in the arrangement of different parts of the rack.  Another major difference that is better than those rack made of wood and those made of metal is that, wooden rack cannot protect the inside in the presence of fire outbreak without getting burnt.  But the metal rack can protect the things inside it in the presence of fire.  Also wooden rack can easily rust or decay as a result of chemical split on its surface.

There are several types of metals that can be used for construction.  Metals for construction include: Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Aluminum, Iron and Steel.  There are usually about three types of steel as it constitutes the widest uses of metals.  These types include low carbon steel that has about 0.3% carbon, medium carbon steel that contain about 0.3% - 0.7% carbon, and high carbon steel that contain 0.7% - 1.7% carbon.

Steel are used in the construction of metal rack, because it is soft to cutting, bending and several operation are applied to the metal during construction.  The galvanized type of steel has a nature of stainless steel and so it does not support rusting.  Because of this, it is not painted after using it for construction.  In the fabrication of sheets of metals, several types of gauge 20, 18, 16, 20, gauge 18, gauge 16, gauge 14, gauge 12 and gauge 10, “gauge 22” has the least thickness while ‘gauge 16” are the best types for construction of metal racks.