Q: How do they get Teflon to stick to the pan when it's non-stick? (Asked by Mr. (I assume) Arthur Thomas Robbins, who failed to explain why he was on my site. Maybe he will in future) A: Firstly, I apologise that it has taken me so long to answer your question... needless to say, such a complex and difficult question needed me to find many hours in the library and scouring the minds of the people in my uni's Teflon department (those working towards a Batchellor degree is Teflonogy). Anyway, I found the answer. It's really rather simple. The Teflon is formed into a sheet, and to attach it to the pan (which would be difficult to achieve straight off, as it were) four (or more, on the more high-spec pans) small screws are used, simply pushed through and screwed into the pan. Now, obviously the manufacturers cannot be having people's non-stick pans having sticky bits in (namely the screw heads), so to these they attach small fans - normally in the center of the screw head. They are heat activated, and heat powered. As soon as they are warmed, they start blowing air upwards (there are rarely dedicated intake valves for these fans, as it's not normally important where the air is taken from). This forms a layer of air across the top of the screw head, which not only prevents things sticking, but even touching the not non-stick surface. Before you go looking carefully at the surface of your pan for these miniature machines, you must bare in mind that, as frying pans have been around for so very long, the techniques for making them have advanced enough that the fans and screws are visible through only the most powerful microscope. Feel free to try an electron scanoscope or whatever those technical Biology or Physics things are. Let me know of the results, too. Also let me know if you develop an electron scanoscope, because I really like that name. Note that these little fans work faster at higher temperatures, which neatly explains why when the pan is very hot you get bubbles forming in your egg or whatever you are cooking. |
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