Wednesday, August 23, 2017, 15:41

2 rounds of UO2/C were cast onto a graphite sheet in the fume hood and let dry.

For this round of samples, circles from cast 1 were used

Graphite powder used = 5.16g

A 14mm punch was used to punch out circles from a 16mm wide strip.

35 circles were packed into a graphite sample container.

graphite container [no endcap] = 3.37g

35 x UO2/C circles = 4.76g

graphite container+smpls = 8.13g

container+smpls+endcap = 10.08g

Graphite tube is placed inside a target boat.

Boat previously coated with TaC and sintered - 1st use of newly sintered boat.

Ta-target boat is wrapped with 3-layers of heat shield and installed in Evap1.

Chamber currently pumping down.

 Friday, August 25, 2017, 09:59

IG1 = 3.45e-6 Torr.

Stepped up manually to 80A.

Vacuum stable.

IG1 = 3.0e-5 Torr.

Initiating auto-ramp.

Target boat will be ramped up to 520A at the rate of 0.1A/min.

Vacuum limit stop at 1.0e-4 Torr, backing off at 5.0e-4 Torr.

 Monday, August 28, 2017, 08:09

IG1 = 6.3e-6 Torr

TGHT = 455A, 4.65V

Vacuum stable.

Increasing ramping rate to 0.2A/min.

 Monday, August 28, 2017, 08:53

IG1 = 7.3e-6 Torr

TGHT = 465A, 4.75V

Vacuum stable.

Increasing ramping rate to 0.5A/min.

 Monday, August 28, 2017, 13:17

IG1 = 1.32e-5 Torr

TGHT = 520A, 5.44V

Vacuum still fairly high and not dropping very fast indicating carbonization incomplete.

Increasing max setpoint to 530A and restarting auto-ramp.

 Monday, August 28, 2017, 15:13

IG1 = 1.32e-5 Torr

TGHT = 530A, 5.58V

Vacuum still high, wavering up and down/ not dropping - carbonization remains incomplete.

Increasing max setpoint to 540A and restarting auto-ramp.

 Tuesday, August 29, 2017, 09:28

IG1 = 3.72e-6 Torr

TGHT = 540A, 5.66V

Carbonization complete.

Initiating auto-cool at 2.0A/min