Wednesday, March 27, 2019, 08:50

A graphite insert was set into a tantalum tube in the evaporator 2 for 3 days

The objective of the test was to determine the current and voltage required to reach 2000 C

Current 424.2 A, voltage 7.17 V, P = 3 kW 

details can be find here https://elog.triumf.ca/TIS/Evaporator_2/433

The test will continue for 2 weeks in the EVAP1.

 Good vacuum 5e-4 Torr

Bad vacuum 1.00e-4

Pressure IGP1 = 1.55e-6 Torr

The autoramp was set to 420 A, at 1 A/min,

Monday, April 01, 2019, 07:57

TGHT = 4.68 V, 424.32 A

IGP1 = 9.61e-7 Torr

Autoramop is set to -1 A/min to 0 A

Monday, April 01, 2019, 11:19 

IGP1=5.43e-7 Torr

At TGHT = 223 A and 2.1 V the autoramp was increased to -2 A/min

Monday, April 01, 2019, 11:20

Sudden and unexpected  pressure increment to 1.4e-5 Torr, might be a glitch.

Monday, April 01, 2019, 13:10

IGP1 = 4.34e-7Torr

The autoramp was stopped at TGHT = 17.28 A, 0.0625 V,

and it was lower down to 0 A manually

 Results: The tantalum tube deformed in the contact points with the graphite insert

Oiled as per work permit:  I2019-03-26-2.

Tuesday, March 26, 2019, 08:53: Start RP1

Tuesday, March 26, 2019, 09:03: Holding at 0.303T on CG2. 

Tuesday, March 26, 2019, 09:10: Turned off RP1. Vent chamber slightly. Close VV1. Restarted RP1.

Open RV1.

Tuesday, March 26, 2019, 09:13: Vacuum stalls out at approx 0.300T.

Tuesday, March 26, 2019, 09:16: Shut off RP1. Contact Vacuum group.

 Checked as per work permit: I2019-03-26-5

Tuesday, March 26, 2019, 13:50: Filter checked. OK

Tuesday, March 26, 2019, 14:00: Tees checked. OK.

Tuesday, March 26, 2019, 14:05: Line / bellows. Fail

Tuesday, March 26, 2019, 14:11: New line / bellows. OK 

Tuesday, March 26, 2019, 14:19: TP1 on, IV1 opened. Vacuum @ 3.5e-05T and dropping.

Pumping down evap1. Dispose of the old line. Replacement successful. No contamination was found on the swipes.

Tuesday, March 26, 2019, 14:36: Vacuum @ 1.12e-05T and dropping. 

On Tuesday it was noted that evaporator 1 was not pumping down properly. It was vented and the seal & seal face wiped with a cloth. The initial pump down rate was faster, however after 48 hrs, it has still not pumped down to appropriate levels. 

Thursday, March 21, 2019, 08:59: IV1 closed & TP1 off. 

Marla Cervantes wrote:

Thursday, November 22, 2018, 17:25 D-shaped discs were cut from cast #26 A 13mm punch was used to punch out discs from pre-cut strips The target consists of 236 discs of 10 cm in length - all single discs, no packs. 236 x UO2/C discs = 22.66 g Graphite insert with caps = 11.74 g The loaded inser is placed on target boat. Boat previously coated with TaC and sintered. Ta-target boat is wrapped with 3-layers (2 new one used) of heat shield and installed in evap1. Chamber is pumping down.  Friday, November 23, 2018, 08:53 Vacuum limits: Good vacuum 1e-1 Torr Bad vacuum 5e-1 Torr IGP1 = 4.12 e-6 Torr Current tapped manually to 100 A at 1A/s in 10 A blocks with a waiting period of 20 s between each increment.   Initial IGP1 = 5.31 e-6 Torr Max  IGP1 = 0.066 Torr Waited 20 min for pressure to rise and drop. The current tripped off, when the 0.013 torr. Increasing the current to 100 A again. IGP1 = 7.00e-5 Torr Rate was increased to 25 A each 20 s until 200 A The pressure increased and IV1 opened, current was dropped to 100 A Pressure after 5 min 4e-4 Torr Rate was increased again to 25 A each 20 s until 200 A The current was reduced to 110 A because the pressure was rising to fast Rate was increased again to 25 A each 20 s until 300 A Pressure was ok and current tripeed off The automatic ramp was set to 20 A/ min from 0 to 300 A The automatic ramp was changed to 10A/2min to 450 A IGP1 = 2.15e-5 Torr After 1.5 hour, the automatic ramp was set to 20 A/ min from 450 to 500 A After 4hrs, the automatic ramp was set to -2 A/ min from 500 to 0 A

 Monday, November 26, 2018, 17:00

 The UCx was transferred to the glove box and loaded in  tantalum container  42218-3.

 Thursday, November 22, 2018, 17:25

D-shaped discs were cut from cast #26

A 13mm punch was used to punch out discs from pre-cut strips

The target consists of 236 discs of 10 cm in length - all single discs, no packs.

236 x UO₂/C discs = 22.66 g

Graphite insert with caps = 11.74 g

The loaded inser is placed on target boat.

Boat previously coated with TaC and sintered.

Ta-target boat is wrapped with 3-layers (2 new one used) of heat shield and installed in evap1.

Chamber is pumping down.

 Friday, November 23, 2018, 08:53

Vacuum limits:

Good vacuum 1e-1 Torr

Bad vacuum 5e-1 Torr

IGP1 = 4.12 e-6 Torr

Current tapped manually to 100 A at 1A/s in 10 A blocks with a waiting period of 20 s between each increment.

Initial IGP1 = 5.31 e-6 Torr

Max  IGP1 = 0.066 Torr

Waited 20 min for pressure to rise and drop.

The current tripped off, when the 0.013 torr  (Fig. Nov23-CurrentTrip1).

Increasing the current to 100 A again.

IGP1 = 7.00e-5 Torr

Rate was increased to 25 A each 20 s until 200 A

The pressure increased and IV1 opened, current was dropped to 100 A

Pressure after 5 min 4e-4 Torr

Rate was increased again to 25 A each 20 s until 200 A

The current was reduced to 110 A because the pressure was rising to fast

Rate was increased again to 25 A each 20 s until 300 A

The automatic ramp was set to 20 A/ min from 0 to 300 A

The automatic ramp was changed to 10A/2min to 450 A

IGP1 = 2.15e-5 Torr

After 1.5 hour, the automatic ramp was set to 20 A/ min from 450 to 500 A

After 4hrs, the automatic ramp was set to -2 A/ min from 500 to 0 A

Marla Cervantes wrote:

Marla Cervantes wrote:  Tuesday, October 30, 2018, 10:12 A new LP-SIS was coated and syntered (e-log 420 Evaporator_2)  The container was loaded with a graphite insert loaded with UCx Graphite insert + UCx mass = 26.927 g A current of 440 A TGHT and 230 A TBHT will be inputed to the contianer IGP1 = 8.72e-7 Torr  The current was tapped manually to 440 A TGHT and 230 A TBHT (see fig. Heating test) Maximum pressure during heating = 1.7e-3 Torr. Target will stay at maximum current for 1 week.  Wednesday, October 31, 2018, 10:09 The current tripped off,  around 5:00 am, the pressure was below 1e-5 Torr (see fig. current-trip_off). On a previous test, we measured the maximum temperature of the power supply = 33.3 C (e-log 227). Power supply overheating doesn't seem to be the problem. EPICS windows are half withe and not answering correctly. Also, TBHT says that IGP1 < 500 mTorr, and its interlock needs reset (see figure EPICS).

 Wednesday, October 31, 2018, 15:20

The problem was reported to controls, it will be also reported to power supply group.

In the meantime, the target will be ramp-up again with the auto ramp at:

TGHT = 20 A/min to 440 A

TBHT = 10 A/min to 230 A 

The pressure before heating is 4.07e-7 Torr

Wednesday, October 31, 2018, 19:24

The maximum pressure during heating was 6.57e-6 Torr.

Current pressure 3.00e-6Torr

Wednesday, November 07, 2018, 18:37

IGP1 = 9.7e-7 Torr

 TGHT = -2 A/min to 0A

TBHT = -1 A/min to 0A 

 Thursday, November 08, 2018, 16:16

EVAP1 was vented with Ar, and target was transferred to glove box.

The mass of the loaded graphite insert changed to 26.854 g

That is a difference of 0.075 g

The tantalum container "cathode" crystalized (see fig)

The rest of the tantalum container did not change.

Marla Cervantes wrote:

Tuesday, October 30, 2018, 10:12 A new LP-SIS was coated and syntered (e-log 420 Evaporator_2)  The container was loaded with a graphite insert loaded with UCx Graphite insert + UCx mass = 26.927 g A current of 440 A TGHT and 230 A TBHT will be inputed to the contianer IGP1 = 8.72e-7 Torr  The current was tapped manually to 440 A TGHT and 230 A TBHT (see fig. Heating test) Maximum pressure during heating = 1.7e-3 Torr. Target will stay at maximum current for 1 week.

 Wednesday, October 31, 2018, 10:09

The current tripped off,  around 5:00 am, the pressure was below 1e-5 Torr (see fig. current-trip_off).

On a previous test, we measured the maximum temperature of the power supply = 33.3 C (e-log 227).

Power supply overheating doesn't seem to be the problem.

EPICS windows are half withe and not answering correctly.

Also, TBHT says that IGP1 < 500 mTorr, and its interlock needs reset (see figure EPICS).

 Tuesday, October 30, 2018, 10:12

A new LP-SIS was coated and syntered (e-log 420 Evaporator_2) 

The container was loaded with a graphite insert loaded with UCx

Graphite insert + UCx mass = 26.927 g

A current of 440 A TGHT and 230 A TBHT will be inputed to the contianer

IGP1 = 8.72e-7 Torr

 The current was tapped manually to 440 A TGHT and 230 A TBHT (see fig. Heatinf test)

Maximum pressure during heating = 1.7e-3 Torr.

Target will stay at maximum current for 1 week.

Marla Cervantes wrote:

Marla Cervantes wrote: Monday, October 22, 2018, 17:55  UO2/C green was prepared , September 24, 2018 Initial UO2 powder used = 50.11 g (Inventory R-01032A, UO2 + bottle = 374.03 g before use) Graphite powder used = 10.13 g Green cast dried UO2/C + organic mass = 62.45 g  The green was rolled up and wrapped in a piece of graphite sheet. The Ta-target boat was wrapped with 3-layers of heat shield [2 reused, 1 new] and installed in evap1. Currently pumping down.  Tuesday, October 23, 2018, 15:38 IGP1 = 2.44e-6 Torr, Tapped to 60 A at 10A/10s with 20 s waiting every 10 A, Waited 28 min to vacuum to stabilize, tapped to 80 A at 10A/10s with 20 s waiting every 10 A, max pressure 7x10-3 Torr, waited 50 min to vacuum to drop Tapped to 100 A at 10A/10s with 20 s waiting every 10 A, max pressure 4x10-2 Torr, tapped current to 80 A, The pressure was dropping, when it was at 2x10-2 Torr, the current tripped off. IGP1 = 1x10-4 Torr Tapped back to 60 A at 10A/10s with 20 s waiting every 10 A, waited 5 min to tap to 80 A at same rate waited 5 min to tap to 100 A at same rate waited 25 min to vacuum to drop from 2e-2 Torr to 8e-4Torr Tapped to 110 A at same rate waited 3 min  to tap to 120 A at same rate waited 1 min  to tap to 130 A at same rate waited 1 min  to tap to 140 A at same rate   waited 15 min to pressure to drop from 6e-2 Torr to 7e-4 Torr   Changing manual rate to 10A/10s with waiting periods of 1 min, current was increased from 140 A to 260 A with this rate.   Changing manual rate to 20A/10s with waiting periods of 30 s, current was increased from 260 A to 480 A with this rate.   Waiting 4 min for the pressure to increase.   Changing the rate to 5A/30s, tapped until 510 A,   Changing the waiting period to 1 min, kept tapping to 530 A,   The pressure was dropping, when it was at 2x10-2 Torr, the current tripped off   The vacuum limit is 5e-1 Torr, and the pressure was dropping, there was no reason for the current to trip.   The pumps seems to be fine in the hot lab.  Wednesday, October 24, 2018, 17:51 Rod from controls checked on the system, seems that the controls are not the cause of the trip Rod suggested that the power supply might be overheating,  thermocouples were installed on the surface of the power supply to register the temperature during the process Tapping the current up again at accelerated rate see spread sheet for details. Since pressure was not decreasing the current was increased to 595 A (rate 1A/min) [see figure CT-2] The power supply's maximum temperature was 32.7 C which is a difference of 9.7 degrees with respect to the initial temperature.  The target will remain at maximum temperature overnight.

 Thursday, October 25, 2018, 09:07

Carbothermal reduction completed

IGP1 =  1.22e-5 Torr

Maximum power supply's temperature 33.3 C

Ramping current down at 2 A/min.

Monday, October 29, 2018, 12:30

Transferring  UCx to glove box

Mass = 48.384 g

Marla Cervantes wrote:

Monday, October 22, 2018, 17:55  UO2/C green was prepared , September 24, 2018 Initial UO2 powder used = 50.11 g (Inventory R-01032A, UO2 + bottle = 374.03 g before use) Graphite powder used = 10.13 g Green cast dried UO2/C + organic mass = 62.45 g  The green was rolled up and wrapped in a piece of graphite sheet. The Ta-target boat was wrapped with 3-layers of heat shield [2 reused, 1 new] and installed in evap1. Currently pumping down  Tuesday, October 23, 2018, 15:38 IGP1 = 2.44e-6 Torr, Tapped to 60 A at 10A/10s with 20 s waiting every 10 A, Waited 28 min to vacuum to stabilize, tapped to 80 A at 10A/10s with 20 s waiting every 10 A, max pressure 7x10-3 Torr, waited 50 min to vacuum to drop Tapped to 100 A at 10A/10s with 20 s waiting every 10 A, max pressure 4x10-2 Torr, tapped current to 80 A, The pressure was dropping, when it was at 2x10-2 Torr, the current tripped off. IGP1 = 1x10-4 Torr Tapped back to 60 A at 10A/10s with 20 s waiting every 10 A, waited 5 min to tap to 80 A at same rate waited 5 min to tap to 100 A at same rate waited 25 min to vacuum to drop from 2e-2 Torr to 8e-4Torr Tapped to 110 A at same rate waited 3 min  to tap to 120 A at same rate waited 1 min  to tap to 130 A at same rate waited 1 min  to tap to 140 A at same rate   waited 15 min to pressure to drop from 6e-2 Torr to 7e-4 Torr   Changing manual rate to 10A/10s with waiting periods of 1 min, current was increased from 140 A to 260 A with this rate.   Changing manual rate to 20A/10s with waiting periods of 30 s, current was increased from 260 A to 480 A with this rate.   Waiting 4 min for the pressure to increase.   Changing the rate to 5A/30s, tapped until 510 A,   Changing the waiting period to 1 min, kept tapping to 530 A,   The pressure was dropping, when it was at 2x10-2 Torr, the current tripped off   The vacuum limit is 5e-1 Torr, and the pressure was dropping, there was no reason for the current to trip.   The pumps seems to be fine in the hot lab.

 Wednesday, October 24, 2018, 17:51

Rod from controls checked on the system, seems that the controls are not the cause of the trip

Rod suggested that the power supply might be overheating, 

thermocouples were installed on the surface of the power supply to register the temperature during the process

Tapping the current up again at accelerated rate see spread sheet for details.

Since pressure was not decreasing the current was increased to 595 A (rate 1A/min) [see figure CT-2]

The power supply's maximum temperature was 32.7 C which is a difference of 9.7 degrees with respect to the initial temperature. 

The target will remain at maximum temperature overnight.

Marla Cervantes wrote:

Marla Cervantes wrote: John Wong wrote: Thursday, October 11, 2018, 18:06 Target consists of 284 UCx discs, total packing length of 8.0 cm.  Container was previously coated/sintered with TaC (see elog #417) in Evap#2 with TGHT set to 400A and TBHT 230A, but there was a problem with the readback.  Will ramp up TGHT to 400A to see if the carbonization is complete; if not, additional 50A on TGHT can be applied. One end-cap is inserted on the right, wrt to the ionizer, and left end is open.  Vacuum initial setting: Good Vac = 5.0 e-5 Torr, Bad vac = 8.0 e-5 Torr. pressure level will be monitored accordingly... Auto-ramping setting TGHT: 60 wait time, 0.2A/min, final 400A (or addtional of 50 A if required as mentioned above) TGHT: 60 wait time, 0.2A/min, final 230A.  Chamber is currently being pumped down.  Friday, October 12, 2018, 15:35 Chamber has pumped down to 1.8e-6 Torr.  Stepping up TGHT and TBHT to 40A.  Friday, October 12, 2018, 17:07 TGHT/TBTH was held at 40A reaching max pressure of 1.7e-5 before slowly coming down.  Initiated autoramping.  Thursday, October 18, 2018, 11:10 TGHT reached to 400A/3.98V, pressure is coming down from the upper limit at around 320A which indicated the carbonization is approaching to completion (see attachment#1).  However, two more out-gassing steps are typically observed as TGHT reached around 450 A (see previous UCx conditioning process).  Currently the pressure is at 1.04 e-5 torr.  Auto-ramping TGHT to 450A at 1A/min, continue to observe the vacuum...  Thursday, October 18, 2018, 12:57 TGHT reached to 450A/4.6V. Pressure is coming down from 1.6 e-5 Torr. (see attachment#2).  Will remain at this heating current until pressure reached to mid 10-6 torr.    Friday, October 19, 2018, 10:00 TRIUMF had a total power outage, the TBHT  and TGHT current had been ramped down already.     Sunday, October 21, 2018, 1:00 pm the pumps went out, and the communication with the IEVAP was recovered on Sunday, the vacuum was 160 mTorr, the pumps were turned on again.

 Monday, October 22, 2018, 9:00

The target was transferred to the Ar glove box.

 Tuesday, October 23, 2018, 10:19

Target was inspected:

- Discs were in place

- Orange coating formed on the open end of target container

Spring was removed, two graphite discs were introduced, end cap was placed.

Marla Cervantes wrote:

John Wong wrote: Thursday, October 11, 2018, 18:06 Target consists of 284 UCx discs, total packing length of 8.0 cm.  Container was previously coated/sintered with TaC (see elog #417) in Evap#2 with TGHT set to 400A and TBHT 230A, but there was a problem with the readback.  Will ramp up TGHT to 400A to see if the carbonization is complete; if not, additional 50A on TGHT can be applied. One end-cap is inserted on the right, wrt to the ionizer, and left end is open.  Vacuum initial setting: Good Vac = 5.0 e-5 Torr, Bad vac = 8.0 e-5 Torr. pressure level will be monitored accordingly... Auto-ramping setting TGHT: 60 wait time, 0.2A/min, final 400A (or addtional of 50 A if required as mentioned above) TGHT: 60 wait time, 0.2A/min, final 230A.  Chamber is currently being pumped down.  Friday, October 12, 2018, 15:35 Chamber has pumped down to 1.8e-6 Torr.  Stepping up TGHT and TBHT to 40A.  Friday, October 12, 2018, 17:07 TGHT/TBTH was held at 40A reaching max pressure of 1.7e-5 before slowly coming down.  Initiated autoramping.  Thursday, October 18, 2018, 11:10 TGHT reached to 400A/3.98V, pressure is coming down from the upper limit at around 320A which indicated the carbonization is approaching to completion (see attachment#1).  However, two more out-gassing steps are typically observed as TGHT reached around 450 A (see previous UCx conditioning process).  Currently the pressure is at 1.04 e-5 torr.  Auto-ramping TGHT to 450A at 1A/min, continue to observe the vacuum...  Thursday, October 18, 2018, 12:57 TGHT reached to 450A/4.6V. Pressure is coming down from 1.6 e-5 Torr. (see attachment#2).  Will remain at this heating current until pressure reached to mid 10-6 torr.    Friday, October 19, 2018, 10:00 TRIUMF had a total power outage, the TBHT  and TGHT current had been ramped down already.

  Sunday, October 21, 2018, 1:00 pm

the pumps went out, and the communication with the IEVAP was recovered on Sunday, the vacuum was 160 mTorr,

the pumps were turned on again.

John Wong wrote:

Thursday, October 11, 2018, 18:06 Target consists of 284 UCx discs, total packing length of 8.0 cm.  Container was previously coated/sintered with TaC (see elog #417) in Evap#2 with TGHT set to 400A and TBHT 230A, but there was a problem with the readback.  Will ramp up TGHT to 400A to see if the carbonization is complete; if not, additional 50A on TGHT can be applied. One end-cap is inserted on the right, wrt to the ionizer, and left end is open.  Vacuum initial setting: Good Vac = 5.0 e-5 Torr, Bad vac = 8.0 e-5 Torr. pressure level will be monitored accordingly... Auto-ramping setting TGHT: 60 wait time, 0.2A/min, final 400A (or addtional of 50 A if required as mentioned above) TGHT: 60 wait time, 0.2A/min, final 230A.  Chamber is currently being pumped down.  Friday, October 12, 2018, 15:35 Chamber has pumped down to 1.8e-6 Torr.  Stepping up TGHT and TBHT to 40A.  Friday, October 12, 2018, 17:07 TGHT/TBTH was held at 40A reaching max pressure of 1.7e-5 before slowly coming down.  Initiated autoramping.  Thursday, October 18, 2018, 11:10 TGHT reached to 400A/3.98V, pressure is coming down from the upper limit at around 320A which indicated the carbonization is approaching to completion (see attachment#1).  However, two more out-gassing steps are typically observed as TGHT reached around 450 A (see previous UCx conditioning process).  Currently the pressure is at 1.04 e-5 torr.  Auto-ramping TGHT to 450A at 1A/min, continue to observe the vacuum...  Thursday, October 18, 2018, 12:57 TGHT reached to 450A/4.6V. Pressure is coming down from 1.6 e-5 Torr. (see attachment#2).  Will remain at this heating current until pressure reached to mid 10-6 torr.

 Friday, October 19, 2018, 10:00

TRIUMF had a total power outage, the TBHT  and TGHT current had been ramped down already.

Monday, October 22, 2018, 17:55 

UO2/C green was prepared , September 24, 2018

Initial UO2 powder used = 50.11 g (Inventory R-01032A, UO2 + bottle = 374.03 g before use)

Graphite powder used = 10.13 g

Green cast dried UO2/C + organic mass = 62.45 g 

The green was rolled up and wrapped in a piece of graphite sheet.

The Ta-target boat was wrapped with 3-layers of heat shield [2 reused, 1 new] and installed in evap1.

Currently pumping down.

 Tuesday, October 23, 2018, 15:38

IGP1 = 2.44e-6 Torr,

Tapped to 60 A at 10A/10s with 20 s waiting every 10 A,

Waited 28 min to vacuum to stabilize,

tapped to 80 A at 10A/10s with 20 s waiting every 10 A,

max pressure 7x10-3 Torr, waited 50 min to vacuum to drop

Tapped to 100 A at 10A/10s with 20 s waiting every 10 A,

max pressure 4x10-2 Torr, tapped current to 80 A,

The pressure was dropping, when it was at 2x10-2 Torr, the current tripped off.

IGP1 = 1x10-4 Torr

Tapped back to 60 A at 10A/10s with 20 s waiting every 10 A,

waited 5 min to tap to 80 A at same rate

waited 5 min to tap to 100 A at same rate

waited 25 min to vacuum to drop from 2e-2 Torr to 8e-4Torr

Tapped to 110 A at same rate

Thursday, October 11, 2018, 18:06

Target consists of 284 UCx discs, total packing length of 8.0 cm. 

Container was previously coated/sintered with TaC (see elog #417) in Evap#2 with TGHT set to 400A and TBHT 230A, but there was a problem with the readback.  Will ramp up TGHT to 400A to see if the carbonization is complete; if not, additional 50A on TGHT can be applied.

One end-cap is inserted on the right, wrt to the ionizer, and left end is open. 

Vacuum initial setting:

Good Vac = 5.0 e-5 Torr, Bad vac = 8.0 e-5 Torr.

pressure level will be monitored accordingly...

Auto-ramping setting

TGHT: 60 wait time, 0.2A/min, final 400A (or addtional of 50 A if required as mentioned above)

TGHT: 60 wait time, 0.2A/min, final 230A.

 Chamber is currently being pumped down.

 Friday, October 12, 2018, 15:35

Chamber has pumped down to 1.8e-6 Torr. 

Stepping up TGHT and TBHT to 40A.

 Friday, October 12, 2018, 17:07

TGHT/TBTH was held at 40A reaching max pressure of 1.7e-5 before slowly coming down. 

Initiated autoramping.

 Thursday, October 18, 2018, 11:10

TGHT reached to 400A/3.98V, pressure is coming down from the upper limit at around 320A which indicated the carbonization is approaching to completion (see attachment#1).  However, two more out-gassing steps are typically observed as TGHT reached around 450 A (see previous UCx conditioning process).  Currently the pressure is at 1.04 e-5 torr. 

Auto-ramping TGHT to 450A at 1A/min, continue to observe the vacuum...

 Thursday, October 18, 2018, 12:57

TGHT reached to 450A/4.6V. Pressure is coming down from 1.6 e-5 Torr. (see attachment#2).  Will remain at this heating current until pressure reached to mid 10-6 torr.

Marla Cervantes wrote:

Monday, September 03, 2018, 10:17 Graphite insert fully loaded with UCx was loaded into previously TaC coated target container. No end caps on Ta target container. Weight of graphite tube + UCx discs = 27.118 g Currently pumping down in evap1. Tuesday, September 04, 2018, 10:17  IGP1 = 4.02e-6 Torr Tapped up TBHT and TGHT manually to 100 A @1 A/s with pauses of 20 s. Wait for 40 min to pressure to stabilize. Max pressure 1.38e-4 Torr. Final pressure 5.93e-5 Torr. Tuesday, September 04, 2018, 11:46  Good vacuum 5e-1 Torr Bad vacuum 8e-1 Torr Initiating auto ramp for TGHT @ 10 A/min to a max setpoint of 520 A Initiating auto ramp for TBHT @ 5 A/min to a max setpoint of 245 A  Tuesday, September 04, 2018, 12:54  After achieving 520 A with auto ramp, manually tapped to 599 A. Manually tapped back to 550 A.

 Saturday, September 29, 2018, 20:52

Target is taken out from the chamber and transferred to the Ar glove box.

Saturday, September 29, 2018, 18:52

Cast is from Jar#1.  (see process sheet for details)

Target boat contains about 50g UO2 powder. 

TGHT will be ramped up to 520A; fast tapping can be done, see elog#211, or set to autoramping with higher vacuum limit (1setup UCx process with pressure up to 60mTorr, see elog #210)

Chamber is currently being pumped down

 Saturday, September 29, 2018, 21:21

Pressure at 2.6e-5 Torr.

Tapping up TGHT in process

 Saturday, September 29, 2018, 21:32

Tapped to 80A/0.65V.  Wait for vacuum to stabilize.

 Saturday, September 29, 2018, 21:42

Pressure stabilized at 2.5mTorr.

Tapping up to 90A/0.701V

Saturday, September 29, 2018, 21:44

Pressure stabilized at 2.7m Torr; tapping up to 100A/0.77V

Saturday, September 29, 2018, 23:57

TGHT at 520A/4394V (see attachment for striptool capture).  Pressure at 163mTorr and coming down.

 Sunday, September 30, 2018, 12:56

At around midnight, pressure was coming down from 160 mTorr to 21 mTorr before TGHT tripped off (see attachment#2).

I suspect the TP was working too hard causing it to trip.

Pressure at 2.1e-6 Torr. 

Using auto-ramping.  Set good vac at 2.0e-4 Torr, bad vac at 5.0e-4 Torr.  Ramping TGHT at 2A/min to reah 520A.

 Sunday, September 30, 2018, 17:11

Pressure limiting at 0.2 mTorr as TGHT slowly ramping up, currently at 442A;  (see attachment#3).

 Monday, October 01, 2018, 21:15

TGHT was held at 520A for at least a day.  Vac at 3.7e-6 Torr.  Ramping down TGHT at 2A/min.

Marla Cervantes wrote:

Monday, September 03, 2018, 10:17 Graphite insert fully loaded with UCx was loaded into previously TaC coated target container. No end caps on Ta target container. Weight of graphite tube + UCx discs = 27.118 g Currently pumping down in evap1. Tuesday, September 04, 2018, 10:17  IGP1 = 4.02e-6 Torr Tapped up TBHT and TGHT manually to 100 A @1 A/s with pauses of 20 s. Wait for 40 min to pressure to stabilize. Max pressure 1.38e-4 Torr. Final pressure 5.93e-5 Torr. Tuesday, September 04, 2018, 11:46  Good vacuum 5e-1 Torr Bad vacuum 8e-1 Torr Initiating auto ramp for TGHT @ 10 A/min to a max setpoint of 520 A Initiating auto ramp for TBHT @ 5 A/min to a max setpoint of 245 A  Tuesday, September 04, 2018, 12:54  After achieving 520 A with auto ramp, manually tapped to 599 A. Manually tapped back to 550 A.

 Friday, September 21, 2018, 10:21

Ramping down heaters at 2 A/min and 1 A/min for TGHT and TBHT.

 Monday, September 03, 2018, 10:17

Graphite insert fully loaded with UCx was loaded into previously TaC coated target container.

No end caps on Ta target container.

Weight of graphite tube + UCx discs = 27.118 g

Currently pumping down in evap1.

Tuesday, September 04, 2018, 10:17 

IGP1 = 4.02e-6 Torr

Tapped up TBHT and TGHT manually to 100 A @1 A/s with pauses of 20 s.

Wait for 40 min to pressure to stabilize.

Max pressure 1.38e-4 Torr.

Final pressure 5.93e-5 Torr.

Tuesday, September 04, 2018, 11:46 

Good vacuum 5e-1 Torr

Bad vacuum 8e-1 Torr

Initiating auto ramp for TGHT @ 10 A/min to a max setpoint of 520 A

Initiating auto ramp for TBHT @ 5 A/min to a max setpoint of 245 A

 After achieving 520 A with auto ramp, manually tapped to 599 A.

Manually tapped back to 550 A.

 Friday, August 17, 2018, 11:17

Four discs of UCx produced with the 1-step casting method were placed in a glass jar.

The mass of the discs was 0.400 g.

The glass jar with the discs were placed in the heating chamber of the IEVAP.

Currently IEVAP is pumping down until vacuum is in the order of  ~10^-6 Torr.

Friday, August 17, 2018, 16:28 

Final vacuum: 9.5x10^-6 Torr

IEVAP's heating chamber will be vented with air and the materials will be taken out.

 Friday, August 17, 2018, 17:27

Material was transferred to the glove box