Friday, July 04, 2014, 10:13

Target boat contains 4 set of samples.  Each sample consists of 5pack ThO2/Nb.  (see photos).

The container is wrapped with 3 layers of heat shield. 

TGHT will be ramped up to 520A at 0.1A/min.

Chamber has been pumped over night, pressure at 4.20e-6 Torr.

The purpose of this test:

1.  Will the Ta- target boat survive at that current?

2.  How will ThO2 sintered?  Shrinkage? Grain-growth? mass loss? density? SEM will be done later.

3.  How will the pressure behave at the max operating temperature (or current)?

  Friday, July 04, 2014, 12:29

Stepped up TGHT to 40A,  Vac went to max at 3.5e-5 Torr and is coming down.

Auto-ramping initiated. 

 Tuesday, August 19, 2014, 10:20

Sample was successfully sinterred to 520A. 

SEM on raw, treated powder, and sintered samples were perform.  Pressure vs current plot can also be found. (see attachments)

More information can be found here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fj78m7tyy7mj99p/AABfm-fQMeoaWhf6HjT8Vzn1a