ES + DEF

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

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Sumguy01
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ES + DEF

Post by Sumguy01 »

Epsom salt dissolved in DEF. (diesel exhaust fluid)
X pol. and Zerene stack.
2x obj. first one.
4x obj. next three.
Image
Image
Image
Image

carlos.uruguay
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Post by carlos.uruguay »

Very nice

Mike
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Post by Mike »

Hello Sumguy,

Interesting shots! Why the solution in DEF? Imagine that is nothing more than condensate from the combustion cycle, with a healthy charge of C soot from an incomplete burn.

It does provide an interesting background for the ES crystals though!

All the best,
Mike
"Nil satis nisi optimum"

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Mike wrote:Why the solution in DEF? Imagine that is nothing more than condensate from the combustion cycle, with a healthy charge of C soot from an incomplete burn.
I don't know about Sumguy's DEF, but the stuff I read about consists of "32.5 percent urea and 67.5 percent deionized water". I expect that the crystals shown here are a mix of Epsom salt and urea.

--Rik

Mike
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Post by Mike »

Hmmm... guess we learn something everyday! I assumed (!) it was something coming out of the diesel exhaust - not exactly a big leap - and was/am completely unaware of the DEF you buy and add to reduce NOx emissions.

Guess my question would then be are you suggesting the urea is represented by the dark, brown elements in the photos? Does not seem correct to me, as I would expect urea crystals to look much different under pol illumination.

We learn something new each day!

All the best,
Mike
"Nil satis nisi optimum"

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Mike wrote:Guess my question would then be are you suggesting the urea is represented by the dark, brown elements in the photos? Does not seem correct to me, as I would expect urea crystals to look much different under pol illumination.
I'm not a crystal guy, so anything I suggest is pretty much sheer speculation. But we can see in Sumguy's earlier post that his DEF by itself makes clear clean crystals. I would expect Epson salt by itself in water to also make clear clean crystals, so I can only guess that somehow Epsom salt and urea interfere with each other's crystalization in some way that produces the blobby things we see here.

--Rik

Mike
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Post by Mike »

Hello Rik,

You know what they say about assuming - guess I got caught with this one by taking the DEF a bit too literally, although my understanding of English perhaps contributed to my confusion - it would seem the material that Sumguy is using and you correctly identified is a fuel additive to modify the diesel exhaust, not a part of the exhaust!

At any rate, looks like an interesting material from the earlier post you linked and might be worth looking into other forms of urea - used in many areas.

Still a bit curious about those brown fuzzy things!

All the best,
Mike
"Nil satis nisi optimum"

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

DEF was new to me too. As I understand the process, it's not really a fuel additive but rather gets injected into the exhaust stream between the engine and the catalytic converter. The chemistry is described in the Diesel exhaust fluid Wikipedia article.
We learn something new each day!
Better, several new things.

A colleague once told me, "Gee, Rik, if you learn just one new thing every day, at the end of a year you'll still know hardly anything."

I don't think he intended it to be insulting, but I was never completely sure about that. :?

--Rik

Mike
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Post by Mike »

Hello Rik,

Yep, 'there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio'...

The only downside I can see with learning one thing a day, at my age I forget more than that every day so the net at the end of the year... :roll:

All the best,
Mike
"Nil satis nisi optimum"

Sumguy01
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Post by Sumguy01 »

Hi Guys
The DEF that I am using is urea and ionized water.
The DEF I have seen so far did not have the ugly brown crystal formations nor has the Epsom salt.
I have no idea what they are but after a period of time they seem to take over the nice looking colorful crystal formations like a blight.
I have no idea what I am doing.
Just Sumguy that likes to look a cool stuff in the microscope :D

Jacek
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Post by Jacek »

Nice :D

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