Tuesday, November 14, 2017, 16:12

Circles from cast 1 were used, the same as the last round of 1stepUCx [see elog i.d. 164]

A 14mm punch was used to punch out circles from the cast.

35 circles were packed into a graphite sample container.

35 x UO2/C circles = 5.43g

Graphite tube is placed inside a target boat.

Boat previously coated with TaC and sintered.

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

Chamber currently pumping down.

 Wednesday, November 15, 2017, 08:53

IGP1 = 1.6e-6 Torr

Tapping up manually...

 Wednesday, November 15, 2017, 11:59

IGP1 = 5.0e-5 Torr

Tapped up entire process manually to 520A in 3hrs!!!

TGHT = 520A, 4.98V

Vacuum coming down nicely indicating carbonization process complete 

Will remain at max setpoint for 4hrs to ensure full carbonization before cooling down later this afternoon.

 Wednesday, November 15, 2017, 15:16

IG1 = 8.65e-6 Torr

TGHT = 520A, 4.92V

Carbonization complete.

Initiating auto-cool at 2.0A/min

 Monday, November 20, 2017, 13:28

Evap1 was vented in argon and sample removed/ transfered to glove box on friday.

Discs look good, slightly lighter grayer compared to production UCx discs after second cast but before final carbonization.

Material seems to adhere to graphite backing foil well, no flakes coming off from just moving discs around.

Weight of 35 carbonized discs = 4.387g

Weight loss = 5.43g - 4.387g = 1.043g