Drawer slide manufacturer

We have all observed the golden orange substance covering the metal surface and railings used outdoors and even within our houses. How many times have you spotted your window slide rail losing its metallic shine to the orange rustic colour of corrosion?

This evil coloured substance is a result of a process called corrosion and is known to us all for its ability to take away the glamour and shine of our beautiful metal rail slides and other metallic surfaces around the house, and it’s not just it. how can we forget the terrible noise that those corroded slide rails produce?

If you are also tired of replacing and repairing your brand new slide rails turning into a complete mess with time, you are missing an important step.

Fret no more, as we are here to solve the mystery behind this horrible process and how to prevent it. The hero you need to make yourself familiar with is called a Buffer.

So brace yourself for a trip around some basic chemistry so you can get a better grip of what a buffer is? how does it work? and how can a choice of a buffer impact your user experience with the slide rails?

What is a Buffer:

Putting in simple words a buffer can be defined as an aqueous solution which is a mixture of a weak acid and its conjugate base or the other way round, i.e a weak base with its conjugate acid, together they form a buffer solution.

If you are new to these concepts of acids and bases let us just explain them in detail for a more thorough understanding.

Firstly, understand the key terms.

Conjugate acid: this is the ingredient of a buffer that forms after the donation of a proton.

Conjugate base: this is the component of a buffer solution formed after accepting the proton.

Conjugate acid-base pair: these are two molecules that differ only by a single proton.

Buffer Capacity: buffer capacity is more commonly defined as the amount of acid or base added to a volume of a solution before its ph changes significantly. titration curve represents the buffer capacity where the flat line indicates the zone of the desired ph. This is the point when adding a small amount of an acid or base does not change the ph of a buffer.

Now let us understand what is an acid or a base. These are opposites of each other. Acid can release a hydrogen ion whereas a base can take up a hydrogen ion. The acidity of a liquid is directly proportional to the amount of free-floating hydrogen ions present in it. the acidic or alkaline nature of a liquid decides the ph also known as the hydrogen ion concentration of any liquid. whereas the base or alkaline nature of any liquid is synonymous with a lower concentration of hydrogen ions.

The full ph range of any liquid is 0-14 with 14 as the final ph value. Any liquid with a ph range of 0-7 is considered acidic and any liquid with a ph range of 7-14 is considered basic. the middle range is 7 which is considered neutral and is distilled water.

The main property of a buffer solution is to hinder the ph change when exposed to sour conditions and maintain a normal ph value when a small amount of acid or base is added to it. A buffer can release hydrogen ions as well as take up hydrogen ions so they can control the amounts of hydrogen ions and thus the ph change of a solution.

Importance of Buffer system in General:

You would have seen corroded railings and withering stainless steel surfaces while travelling around and even within your house. Ever wondered why these surfaces corrode and what causes them to wither away?

Well, if you haven’t wondered why let us just take you down the road to give you a brief insight into a buffer action and function. This understanding is very important before investing in any slide rail, be it for your window, kitchen railings, for commercial uses, or even for your kids playing slide in your lawn, every metallic surface around you is prone to corrosion and you have to understand the background information to prevent it.

Hydrogen is the little evil fellow that initiates this horrible process of corrosion. Corrosion of a material occurs only when it is exposed to hydrogen ions. This is where buffer solutions come into action. Breaking down of the Passive oxides by the subsequent local acidification results in sparking the corrosion process. Experiments prove that buffer solutions effectively prevented the surfaces from adverse corrosion as compared to the non-buffer solutions. Therefore, the materials having a non-buffer solution are at a much higher risk of corrosion than those with buffer solutions at the same ph.

Most metallic surfaces around you for example platinum, copper, or stainless steel are all exposed to water. Water electrolysis on metallic surfaces results in hydrogen evolution which is a primary cause of corrosion reaction. This can be prevented by using a good buffer solution which prevents the cathodic reaction leading to Hydrogen evolution and corrosion of the metal.

Action Mechanism of a Buffer system:

Before we cover the main details of what to look for in a good buffer solution and how can it impact your experience of using a slide rail by  drawer slide manufacturer, here is a brief overview of the mode of action of a buffer solution.

Disclaimer here, tie up your seatbelts because we are about to take you back to a basic chemistry lecture which you might not enjoy much but hey! anything to increase the life expectancy of your lovely shiny slide rails. and we assure you this little lecture will be worth it.

to make things a bit easier for you we have created two scenarios that will make you understand the magical effect of a good buffer solution.

Scenario 1:

imagine a beaker with a normal indicator solution in it. if you are new to the chemistry you need to know an indicator solution is basically what helps us know whether the substance or solution added to it is acidic or alkaline. now we add acid (hydrogen ions+) to this indicator solution and boom! the colour of the indicator changes to red which is not surprising at all.

So this indicator solution indicated that it has turned acidic, job well done!

Now we take another beaker with an indicator solution and add an alkaline(hydroxide OH−) to it. the solution will turn purple indicating that it is now alkaline.

But wait! where is the buffer in this scenario. well hold on this is what happens when there is no buffer. to understand the difference a buffer can make let’s jump into the 2nd scenario.

Scenario 2:

Now we have a beaker with a solution in it but this time we have a buffer solution (HA) in the beaker. To understand the composition of a buffer solution, you need to know that a buffer solution has two main ingredients in it (HA a weak acid which when dissolved in water produces its conjugate base A-) these are the two main ingredients of a buffer solution.

HA(aq) changes into H+(aq) + A-(aq)

H is hydrogen which is a key component of any acid and A represents whatever else you add to complete this weak acid. for example, this can be any weak acid like acetic acid. the equilibrium point here is however not on a 50-50 basis because this is a weak acid and hence it will partially dissociate thus the equilibrium is more inclined towards the left side.

We added acid to this solution, can you guess what happened?

Absolutely nothing, the solution did not change colour this time. this happened because HA only partially dissociates. Thus adding a small concentration of an acid will not alter the ph range of this buffer solution and it will not entirely change colour. But there is an additional component to this reaction. which completes it. let us take an example of good old acetic acid.

CH3COOH(acetic acid) ———–> CH3COO- (Acetate ion) + H+

The point to consider is that we will have a huge amount of CH3COOH(acetic acid) in the solution and a very less amount of acetate ions this is because acetic acid being a weak acid will not fully dissociate. so to bring the equilibrium, we need to add a soluble salt of acetic acid which will be sodium acetate(CH3COONA). Sodium in sodium acetate is a strong base so it can fully dissociate.

CH3COOH(acetic acid) ———–> CH3COO- (Acetate ion) + H+

This chemical reaction produces enough acetate ions to bring back the lost equilibrium. the resultant here is acetate ions in an aqueous solution. Now with enough amount of acetate ions, the initial partial dissociation of acetic acid is balanced and so we get our weak acid back in a considerable amount thus maintaining the colour of the liquid and keeping the ph balance.

Let’s now take the buffer solution in another beaker and add a small amount of base in it, nothing happened. here is how the reaction worked this time.

CH3COOH(acetic acid) +OH-(Hydroxide)————> CH3COO-(Conjugate base) +H2O

The solution will turn neutral and is not alkaline so the resultant here is an acetate ion which is the conjugate base and water.

This is the magic of a buffer solution it will maintain its ph and thus adding a small amount of an acid or a base will not cause any change to it.

Now you might be wondering how is this linked to your slide rails. This is directly linked to how a buffer can protect your slide rails from corrosion by maintaining the ph of the slide rail surface.

Consider that the surface of your slide railings is the solution in the beaker and if left without a buffer covering, it is exposed to all acidic and alkaline components of the surrounding atmosphere, and hence it will initiate the cathodic reaction resulting in hydrogen evolution, then ph change and as result, corrosion.

A buffer will act as a shield and will protect the surface area of the metal from direct contact with hydrogen ions, maintaining a neutral ph value.

Properties of good Buffer systems:

Below are some of the major qualities of a good buffer system. An insight into these properties might come in handy during your buffer preparation.

Water-Solubility:

The water solubility of a buffer is extremely important considering that most acid-base reactions occur in aqueous solutions so to help a liquid solution resist a change in its ph value when added acid or base, the first thing expected of a good buffer is its own ability to dissolve well in that liquid.

Most biological buffers have a remarkable water solubility, this is primarily because water is the main solvent in most biological systems. However, when it comes to organic solvents like fats and oils a good buffer will have a low- solubility this prevents the good buffers from piling up in the cell membranes of the cells.

Ability to Absorb Light:

A good buffer should be resistant to absorbing light, especially direct sunlight. This is because UV radiations can affect the composition and stability of a buffer solution.

UV rays are known to generate free radicals and are also considered a cause of unstable ions in a solution when exposed. this can divert the desired ph of our buffer solution.

The absorbance of UV radiations by buffer solutions can result in interference spectrophotometric assays.

Disbarring by Biological Membranes:

Some natural buffers for example cholesterol are needed in the cell membrane in particular conditions because their presence can prevent the change in the fluidity of the cell membrane by preventing inhibition of fluidity in lower temperatures and increase in fluidity at higher temperatures. Of course, this helps in maintaining a normal ph value

However, in some cases, the exclusion of buffers from cell membranes is important. for instance, positive and negative charges on two different atoms within the molecule(also known as zwitterions) cannot pass through the cell membrane.

Acid strength between 6 and 8:

Virtually speaking, all biochemical systems work best in this particular ph range. inorder to get the optimal buffering range of your buffer solution take the dissociation constant of the weak acid and add or subtract the pH unit from it. So this indicates that the ideal buffer range of a good buffer is one pH unit on either side of the pKa.

Resistance to changes in Temperature and Concentration:

Resistance to change in temperature is also of importance when it comes to the properties of a good buffer solution. What you need to consider here is that a change in ambient temperature can bring a change in the value of ph for that solution.

Eg, if you prepare a buffer at let’s say 20 degrees celsius and the ph here is 8.2 which makes it a great buffer at this temperature. But if you use the same buffer at 4 degrees celsius the ph drops to 7.6 and this makes it a poor buffer for the same experiment.

A pro tip here for buffer preparation is to prepare the buffer at a temperature at which you are planning to use it, or else if you are doing an experiment that involves a temperature change select a buffer with a higher buffer range so it can resist any dissociation due to the temperature change.

Resistance to changes in the concentration of acid or base is also of prime importance. The buffering capacity of a buffer solution is directly proportional to both the components of a buffer solution i.e, weak acid and its conjugate base or a weak base and its conjugate acid.

Though an important point to consider here is that the resistance of a buffer solution to a change in the desired ph is not unlimited. The desired ph can only be maintained when only a small amount of acid or base is being added into the solution.

Adding a high amount of acid to a buffer solution during buffer preparation will exhaust the weak base which in turn will limit the buffer’s ability to resist a ph change and similarly adding a large amount of base to the solution will exhaust the weak acid which then will stop the buffering action towards the base.

Also, note that whether you add a huge amount of an acid or base or you don’t, in either way as the given component depletes the buffering action will rapidly diminish, so good buffers are those that can maintain a neutral ph or the desired ph for a longer period.

Chemically Stable:

Buffers are commonly used in chemical reactions involving enzymes. Enzymes and other chemical components of a chemical reaction can significantly impact and degrade other components of the same reaction, which can affect the ph value of the cells. The key element of a good buffer is to be strong enough that no enzymes can degrade it and stable enough to resist any effect of all components of that particular chemical reaction. maintaining its chemical stability and simultaneously desired ph is an extremely important property of any good buffer solution as its function highly depends on how stable it is.

Easy to Use:

Buffers should be easy to use and produce.

What are different types of Buffer systems:

Not counting the biological buffers because they are an entirely different branch of the buffer system leaves us with two main types of buffer solutions.

Acidic Buffer solutions:

Here is a common example of ethanoic acid, CH3COOH(weak acid) and sodium ethanoate CH3COONa(conjugate base). This is a very typical and classic example of a weak acid and its conjugate base. to prepare different acidic buffer solutions, you need to make solutions with a suitable mixture of desired weak acid and conjugate base.

If you know the ph you wish the buffer to operate at, choose a weak acid with pKa closest to the desired ph. The above-mentioned buffer is used when the desired ph of 4.74 is required. This is because the pKa of this buffer is 4.74.

Alkaline Buffer solutions:

Take another classic example of NH3(a weak base) and NH4Cl(conjugate acid). For this type of buffer solution, you need a weak base with its conjugate acid. The pKa of ammonium ion is 9.25 and so the ph of this pair will be 9.25

What are Biological Buffers:

Buffers play a vital role in the world around us and the world within us. The basic unit of any living body is called a cell. every individual cell has a whole series of multiple chemical reactions taking place in it at all times. The organic substances that maintain the ph of these cells by casting a neutralizing effect on hydrogen ions are called biological buffers.

Here is an insight into how these biological buffers are important for the maintenance of the ph and function of a normal biological system.

How are Buffers Important to Biological systems:

Imagine the level of activity our body cells have to do every passing second of our life, this untiring labour of our body cells is only possible because of the supreme level of buffer system nature has blessed us with.

Our body cells and the enzymes always in action are all working in a narrow range of ph to help support the eating, running, walking, talking, and even breathing that we are continuously doing. This narrow range of ph if altered or changed can drastically affect our performance in daily lives and worst cases can even be fatal.

But with all these chemical activities going on in our biological system a high degree of a good biological buffer system is required, which fortunately mother nature has blessed us loads with.

An example of one such important biological buffer system is blood. blood circulates in our whole body and is responsible for the oxygen supply to our body. This essential fluid contains a carbonic acid (H2CO3 weak acid)-bicarbonate(HCO3- conjugate base) buffer system.

when we exercise or do some physical activity amount of H+ ions increases in our blood. without the H2CO3-HCO3- buffer system the blood will turn acidic but dissociation of weak acid results in the production of bicarbonate ions, these bicarbonate ions act as the conjugate base and take up the free-floating hydrogen ions from the blood thus replenishing the weak acid. The ph of blood usually is anywhere within a ph range of 7.35-7.45.

Most importantly, biochemical biological buffers are also used in the manufacture of medicines.

Preparation of a biological buffer solution:

Biological buffer solutions are naturally present inside our body and are also prepared artificially for different experiments eg when dealing with the proteins it is important to provide them with a certain favourable ph because they are sensitive to a ph change and can easily fall apart. To maintain this ph, biological buffers are used.

Following are the 3 possible ways to prepare your biological buffers.

In 60 % water volume out of the final volume desired for buffer solution, buffer in its acid form is dissolved. At this point, the ph of the solution is measured. if more towards the acidic side the ph is adjusted by a strong base eg sodium hydroxide or ammonium hydroxide. contrary to this if the solution is made with a weak base and its conjugate acid, you can easily adjust the ph by adding a strong acid like HCl. once the desired ph is achieved dilute the solution to the desired volume.

In this type of buffer preparation, you use the famous Henderson-Hasselbach equation, to calculate the exact amounts of acid and its conjugate base needed to make a buffer solution with a certain desired ph.

pH=pKa+log([A−]/[HA])

ph is the concentration of hydrogen ions, pKa is the dissociation constant, A- is the concentration of the conjugate base and HA is the concentration of the starting acid.

In this method, you take two solutions with the same buffer concentration as expected of the final solution. to obtain the final buffer you just add one solution to another and this is how you prepare the solution of both the acid and the base form of both the solutions.

Preparation of Buffer Solutions:

Here are a few tips to consider in your buffer preparation.

If you desire the ph of the above 7 weak bases and their salts will suit you better as buffers. However, if you are looking for a ph of less than 7 weak acids and their salts will suit you more.

In the process of buffer preparation, select the buffer with a dissociation constant equal to or very near to the desired final ph value. ideal buffer solutions have a ph=pKa.

Using the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation, calculate the amounts of acid and base needed by keeping in view the total amount of buffer solution needed.

Keep adjusting the ph as desired, depending on the temperature and the concentration factors.

Best Balance for Buffering Solution:

When it comes to the balance of a good buffering solution it is advised to keep the concentration of both the components of a buffering solution at an approximately equal level.

This is because exhaustion of either the weak acid or the conjugate base or the weak base or conjugate acid will simply distort the titration curve which then ends the function of a buffer. Therefore to get the best out of a buffer solution it is important to keep both [HA] and [A-] in an equilibrium ratio for best-buffering value.

The best-buffering value is considered 1:1 but a buffering value anywhere within 10:1 and 1:10 is a good balance.

Importance of accurate weighing for quality buffer solutions:

Accurate weighing is the key to making a successful buffer solution. The main purpose of a buffer solution is to help maintain the ph of the solution it is added to. These are mixtures of diluted weak acids and their conjugate base or weak bases with their conjugate acid. If these buffer components are not weighed accurately, you cannot expect the buffer to function properly.

Addition of more than one ingredient:

When calculating the required amounts of ingredients manually, there is a high chance that you can make an error, therefore it is important to have a modern and accurate balance to measure the right amounts of ingredients required. This will make the calculations far less challenging for you.

addition of ingredients to already existing and known ingredients can help reduce the risk of overweighing the material.

Commercial Applications of Buffer systems:

There are unlimited applications of Buffer systems when it comes to the commercial level.

If you observe the daily products that you use for example your hair shampoos with many chemicals like NaOH which can affect your skin but it won’t because of those buffers used in the manufacture of your shampoos.

Alcoholic liquids such as beers, wines, and other liquor undergo hours and sometimes months of fermentation, and it is easy for them to get acidic but the manufacturers add regulated amounts of buffers to maintain the ph of the liquor.

Paints, oils, laundry detergents all use buffers to maintain the industry requirements as well as to prevent the breaking down of the natural ingredients of these products.

Baby lotions are manufactured with a ph of 6 which makes them slightly acid and this adds to the antibacterial and anti-pathogenic properties of the lotion. This relieves any baby rash and kills the evil bacteria on the baby’s skin.

Apart from these uses, high-quality manufacturers give the option of buffering your slide rails and all household and outdoor metallic products to prevent them from corrosion and rusting.

Relationship between Buffer System and Slide Rails:

With an increase in global warming and pollution, our rains are no longer the natural happy rains instead in many regions of the world the rains have turned acidic. following this, all our metallic things present around are very much prone to depletion and corrosion.

When we say metallic things we mean every single object made of metal placed in the open sun be it your train station rails, slide rails in the parks, balcony railings, and even the smallest pieces for instance the railings for your drawers.

This might not seem a very concerning aspect for now but imagine what will the world look like with all the traffic signals, grills, metallic doorknobs, slide railings and every possible thing made up of metal being destroyed by the acidic effect of strong acids in the acid rain and pollution.

on a domestic level, imagine how much time and money you spend on scrubbing those railings and metal pieces in your house with all those expensive products to prevent them from falling prey to corrosion.
All this valuable outdoor stuff and the most beautiful and essential indoor stuff can be preserved, helping you save time and money only if you understand the importance of buffers for your slide railings and other metal stuff.

Choice of Buffer Solution for Slide rails:

Now, this can be a hard choice not because there is a lot to choose from but because this choice demands a bit of an insight into chemistry.

But with all the explanation and information as given above buffer preparation and choice of buffer solutions shouldn’t be much of an issue for you. To make things even more simple here are 2 rules of thumb you need to consider before choosing a buffer mixture.

As we have explained earlier a buffer solution has two main components a weak acid and its conjugate base or a weak base and its conjugate acid. Now any good buffer mixture always has approximately equal concentrations of both these components. any buffer mixture will lose its efficiency when any one of its components is about 10% less than the other.

For any ph, less than 7, weak acid and its conjugate base will act as a good buffer and similarly, for any ph, more than 7 a weak base with its conjugate acid will be an ideal choice as a buffer solution.

The choice of your buffer solution also depends on your expectations and ph requirements, the measure of the Pka that account for this pH. The concentration and temperature of the buffer solution are also of prime importance.

Your choice of a buffer also depends on the type of material used and where you plan to use a buffer solution, eg, if you are planning to get the right buffer for slide rails in the children’s park the quality and purity grade of your buffer solution will be different than if you wish to use the buffer solution on the rail slides of your drawers or kitchen cabinets.

Impact of a bad buffer on the usage of slide rails:

As important it is to use a buffer to save your slide rails from corrosion and rusting however, it is equally important to invest wisely in a good buffer. With tons of different buffers available in the market if you don’t do thorough research you never know what are you signing up for.

Railings are in very common use these days so everything in your house ranging from the tiny drawer of the little showcase in your house to the lavish slide rail door to your lawn all these have use of slide rails, even those tiny hinges holding your doors to the walls are an example of slide rails.

All this makes it even more important to take good care of your slide rails. With them occupying every corner of your house, you don’t want to end up opening your door with a very irritating noise because of its corroded hinges the same goes with the drawers. not to mention, the inhalation of these corrosive particles.

FAQ Summary:

We understand this might be a lot for you to read in a single go therefore, we have summarised frequently asked questions to make it easy for you to get a grip on all the main topics discussed above.

What can be the Effects of A buffer?

To make you understand this effect in simpler terms here is a perfect analogy. Just like an umbrella acts as a shield between you and the rain and protects you from getting soaked, similarly, a buffer solution acts as a shield between its target metal surface and the acidic or alkaline nature of the atmosphere. Not just that, but a buffer solution also helps maintain the desired ph range of the surface it is acting upon.

What is the importance of Buffers to biological Systems and the mode of action of a buffer?

Living cells are the basic units of any biological system and for the biological system to work fine, the cell function must stay normal. cells have several chemical reactions going on within and outside of the cell membranes at all times which makes a cell very prone to drastic ph change and can result in the disturbance or worst-case scenarios destruction of the entire biological system.

Biological buffers can maintain the ph of a biological system by regulating the ph change at the cellular level. the approximate ph of the inside of a cell is 7.2.

In concluding, as you now know the importance of a good buffer for your good slide rail experience make sure to do deep research keeping in mind all the tips and points we have shared with you, before making a choice. This will help save you your valuable time, money and health.