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.

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

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: 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

 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:

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.

Friday, June 14, 2019, 17:10

A 14 mm die was used to cut out discs from strips

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

231 x UO₂/C discs = 25.76 g

12 UO₂ discs for measurements = 1.49 g

Graphite insert without caps= 11.59 g

The loaded insert 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.

Monday, June 17, 2019, 08:56 

Pressure limits:

Good vacuum 1e-1 Torr

Bad vacuum 5e-1 Torr

IGP1 = 6.600777e-7 Torr

Current tapped manually to 80 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

Monday, June 17, 2019, 10:03

After 42 minutes the pressure started dropping and the current rate was changed to 1A/s with for 20 second intervals followed by 20 second wait while monitoring pressure.

Monday, June 17, 2019, 14:41

Current was tapped to 100A but the pressure increased too rapidly; therefore, the current was tapped down to 75A.

After pressure stabilized, the current was tapped up to 100 A @1A/s in 20A segments and 20 second pauses.

Continued tapping up at the above rate until 160A, at which point the pressure shot up and tripped the system.

The pressure stabilized within 18 minutes.

The wait interval on the heater ramps control was changed to 1s

The current increment was set to 0.2A with a final value of 200A

At 170A the autoramp was stopped and the current manually tapped down to 160A to prevent rapid pressure buildup.

5 minutes later the pressure had stabilized and autramp was restarted.

At 160A we changed the waiting interval to 10s and the current increment to 2A.

At 200A we stopped autoramp and manually tapped at 1A/s in 20A segments with 10s pauses. 

At 360A, we changed the current increment to 1A while keeping the wait interval at 10s.

At 440A the autoramp was stopped to change the current increment to 0.5A while the waiting interval was kept at 10s.

The autoramp final current was set to 500A.

At 495A the autoramp was stopped because the pressure was dropping significantly.

The Target was left for 3 hours at 495A.

Pre-cooling conditions:

TGHT = 494A, 4.8V

IGP1 = 6.7e-6 Torr

Cooling rate = -2A/min

Friday, June 26, 2019, 17:10

A 13 mm die was used to cut out discs from strips

The target consists of 264 discs of 10 cm in length - all single discs, no packs.

231 x UO₂/C discs = 25.76 g

10 UO₂ discs for measurements = 1.49 g

Graphite insert without caps= 17.44 g

The loaded insert is placed on target boat.

Boat previously coated with TaC and sintered.

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

Chamber is pumping down. 

Tuesday, July 30, 2019, 09:45

Pressure limits:

Good vacuum 1e-1 Torr

Bad vacuum 5e-1 Torr

Initial vacuum IGP1 = 5.94e-7 Torr

Current tapped manually to 85 A at 1A/s in 5 A blocks with a waiting period of 25 s between each increment. 

Tuesday, July 30, 2019, 10:53

After 30 min, the pressure started stabilizing around 0.0013 g

The current rate was changed to 1 A/2min to 88 A

The current rate was changed to 1 A/min to 90 A

The current rate was changed to 1 A/30s to 100 A

The final pressure obtained was 0.0011 Torr

The current rate was changed to 2 A each 10 s to 170 A

The final pressure obtained was 0.04 Torr

The current rate was changed to 1 A each 10 s to 180 A

The final pressure obtained was 0.008 Torr

The final pressure was 0.001 Torr

The current was tapped manually to 400 A in intervals of 10 A at 1 A/s each 10 s

The autoramp was set to 1 A each 10 s to 450 A

Then the current was increased manually at 1 a each 20 s until 475 A

The current was increased in this manner until 480 A to make sure the pressure was not rising 

Tuesday, July 30, 2019, 12:00

After the pressure stabilized and started reducing the current was reduced to 480 A

After 3 hours at 475 A the autoramp was set to -2A/min

 Wednesday, October 02, 2019, 11:09

A graphite cartridge loaded with UO2/C foils, wrapped with three Ta heat shields was placed in the EVAP1.

The EVAP1 is currently pumping down.

 Thursday, October 03, 2019, 09:40

Pressure limits:

Good vacuum 1e-1 Torr

Bad vacuum 5e-1 Torr

Initial vacuum IGP1 = 9.54e-7 Torr

Current tapped manually to 80 A at 1A/s in 5 A blocks with a waiting period of 25 s between each increment. 

Thursday, October 03, 2019, 10:36

The pressure started decreasing after 45 min and the auto ramp was set to 1 A each 30 s to 86 A 

The autoramp was set to 2 A each 10 s to 180 A

The autoramp was set to 3.2 A each 10 s to 300 A

The autoramp was re start at 3.2 A each 10 s to 400 A 

The autoramp was set to 1 A each 10 s to 430 A 

The autoramp was set to 2 A each 10 s to 450 A 

The autoramp was set to 2 A each 10 s to 480 A 

Autoramp at 2 A per min to 500 A

Manually tapped to 545 A.

After 48 hrs at maximum temperature, the target was cooled done at -2 A/min 

Monday, October 28, 2019, 10:29

A loaded graphite cartridge was set in a tantalum boated and wrapped with 3 tantalum sheets

The set up was installed in the EVAP1 and pumped dwon during the weekend.

IGP1 = 1.10 e-6 Torr

Monday, October 28, 2019, 10:31

Good vacuum = 1e-1 Torr

Bad vaccum = 5e-1 Torr

The current ramp is 1 A each 10 s from 0 A to 100 A

Monday, October 28, 2019, 11:13 

After 18 min the pressure started dropped.

Monday, October 28, 2019, 11:22 

When the pressure reduced to 5e-4 Torr the current ramp was changed to 3.3 A each 10 s to 480 A, the vacuum limits stayed the same.

Monday, October 28, 2019, 11:45

The limit was set to 500 A with same ramp

Monday, October 28, 2019, 11:48 

The ramp was changed to 1A/10s to 550 A

 Monday, October 28, 2019, 11:55

At 520 A the pressure reach 1e-1 Torr and the autoramp stopped

Monday, October 28, 2019, 13:39

the current was increased manually at aprox. 1A/30 s 

The current dropped suddenly even though the pressure was under the limits and the ramping was in the limits.

Autoramp was set to 3 A/ 10 s from to to 500 A

Then it was changed to 1 A  /30s from 500 to 506 A

Finally it was changed to 1 A/ 10 s from 506 to 520 A

Manually tapped to 530 A

Monday, October 28, 2019, 15:40

At 13:45 the current reached 530 A. 

Marla Cervantes wrote:

Monday, October 28, 2019, 10:29 A loaded graphite cartridge was set in a tantalum boated and wrapped with 3 tantalum sheets The set up was installed in the EVAP1 and pumped dwon during the weekend. IGP1 = 1.10 e-6 Torr Monday, October 28, 2019, 10:31 Good vacuum = 1e-1 Torr Bad vaccum = 5e-1 Torr The current ramp is 1 A each 10 s from 0 A to 100 A Monday, October 28, 2019, 11:13  After 18 min the pressure started dropped. Monday, October 28, 2019, 11:22  When the pressure reduced to 5e-4 Torr the current ramp was changed to 3.3 A each 10 s to 480 A, the vacuum limits stayed the same. Monday, October 28, 2019, 11:45 The limit was set to 500 A with same ramp Monday, October 28, 2019, 11:48  The ramp was changed to 1A/10s to 550 A  Monday, October 28, 2019, 11:55 At 520 A the pressure reach 1e-1 Torr and the autoramp stopped Monday, October 28, 2019, 13:39 the current was increased manually at aprox. 1A/30 s  The current dropped suddenly even though the pressure was under the limits and the ramping was in the limits. Autoramp was set to 3 A/ 10 s from to to 500 A Then it was changed to 1 A  /30s from 500 to 506 A Finally it was changed to 1 A/ 10 s from 506 to 520 A Manually tapped to 530 A Monday, October 28, 2019, 15:40 At 13:45 the current reached 530 A.

The final pressure was IGP1 = 3.3e-6 Torr 

After 18 hrs at maximum temperature the autoramp was set to -2 A/min to 0 A.

 Tuesday, May 26, 2019, 18:20

A loaded graphite cartridge was set in a tantalum boated and wrapped with 3 tantalum sheets (Friday May 22, 2020)

The set up was installed in the EVAP1 and pumped down during the weekend.

IGP1 = 7.10 e-7 Torr

Good vacuum = 1e-1 Torr

Bad vacuum = 5e-1 Torr

Current ramp is 1A per 10s from 0A to 120A

Wednesday, June 03, 2020, 08:11 

A loaded graphite cartridge was set in a tantalum boated and wrapped with 3 tantalum sheets (Friday May 29, 2020)

The set up was installed in the EVAP1 then IEVAP:IGP1 was replaced (elogs 260 and 261).  

Vacuum was turned on after Ion Gauge swap.

IGP1 = 3.6 e-5 Torr

Good vacuum = 5e-2 Torr

Bad vacuum = 5e-1 Torr

Current ramp is 1A per 10s from 0A to 120A

Wednesday, June 03, 2020, 09:59 

After about 20 minutes at 120 A, TGHT tripped again exactly as before.

Will restart ramp at 1A per 10s from 0A to 120A .  Will set good vacuum to 1e-2 Torr

IGP1= 4.3e-05 Torr

Wednesday, June 03, 2020, 10:57

IGP1 =  9e-4 Torr

Pressure peaked around 4e-3 Torr and now trending down

TGHT =120 A

Wednesday, June 03, 2020, 11:23

IGP1=9.5e-5 Torr

Good Vacuum 1e-02 Torr

Bad Vacuum 5e-1 Torr

Starting TGHT ramp to 550 A at 3A per 10s  

Wednesday, June 03, 2020, 14:41

ramp up was good.  TGHT at 550 A since 12:30 pm.  TGHT did not trip. *note adjusted good vacuum.  Ramping takes a little longer but doesn't trigger TGHT shutdown.

Wednesday, June 03, 2020, 22:55

IGP1 =  3.5e-5 Torr

TGHT = 249.4 A, 5.7 V

Start ramp down at -2A per minute to 0 A

 Saturday, June 05, 2021, 08:57

Target #33 was installed in the EVAP1 and pumped down yesterday (Friday 4).

Target #33 is going to be conditioned on a Ta boat wrapped with 3 Ta foils.

IGP1 = 3.85e-6 Torr

Good vacuum = 1e-1 Torr

Bad vacuum = 5e-1 Torr

Power desired 1.6kW. This is the first target conditioned this way, 

Saturday, June 05, 2021, 09:13

Current ramp is 2A/30s to 400 A

Saturday, June 05, 2021, 10:59

TGHT = 3.5V, 399.7 A, 1.4 kW

IGP1 = 4.4e-5 Torr

Saturday, June 05, 2021, 11:00  

Current ramp is 2A/30s to 450 A

Saturday, June 05, 2021, 11:14

 TGHT = 4.06 V, 451.584 A, 1.4 kW

IGP1 = 4.86e-5 Torr

Saturday, June 05, 2021, 11:15 

Current ramp is 2A/30s to 500 A

Saturday, June 05, 2021, 11:23

TGHT = 4.23 V, 467.2 A, 1.97 kW pressure was still increasing a little at 1.6kW

IGP1 = 4.86e-5 Torr

Saturday, June 05, 2021, 19:10

 TGHT = 4.08 V, 459.52 A, 

IGP1 = 6.4e-6 Torr

Initiate ramp down  at 2 A/min to 0A

Target #34 was installed in the EVAP1 and pumped down (Tuesday June 29, 2021).

Target #34 is going to be conditioned on a Ta boat wrapped with 3 Ta foils.

IGP1 = 1.85e-6 Torr

Good vacuum = 1e-1 Torr

Bad vacuum = 5e-1 Torr

Power desired 1.6kW. This is the second target conditioned this way. 

Subsequent targets should be conditioned following thermal reduction.

 Thursday, July 01, 2021, 06:05

IGP1= 1.35e-06 Torr

Start autoramp @2A/30s to 400A

Thursday, July 01, 2021, 07:59

Pressure increase was observed near 400A 

will ramp to 450A and  keep for 8 hours

IGP1= 1.4 e-05 Torr

450A and 4.0V reached at 8:14 am on Thursday July 01, 2021

Rampdown @-2A/min was started at 4.14 pm on Thursday July 01, 2021 IGP1 stable at 2.7e-06Torr

Cannot transfer into glovebox yet because moisture is a bit high after regeneration.  Moisture is dropping. Will wait until moisture is sufficiently low.

Monday, July 05, 2021, 20:43

Cartridge was removed and placed in bag inside glovebox

Removed 10 discs for analysis but might place them back inside depending on final decision.  We had previously removed 10 discs after thermal reduction.

 Wednesday, July 07, 2021, 14:39

Target Provisional ID = 200929 was installed in the EVAP1 and pumped down (Tuesday July 7, 2021).

Target is going to be thermally reduced for 8 hours and then conditioned for an additional 8 hours

IGP1 = 2.0 e-6 Torr

Good vacuum = 1e-1 Torr

Bad vacuum = 5e-1 Torr

Power desired 1.6kW.

10 extra discs included for analysis

Wednesday, July 07, 2021, 14:49 

Ramping up TGHT at 6A/min [wait interval = 10 s at increments of 1A]

Wednesday, July 07, 2021, 15:58

IGP1= 5.7 e-5 Torr and trending down.  Will start ramp up to 450A at  18A/min [wait interval 10s at 3A increments]

Wednesday, July 07, 2021, 16:20 

IGP1= 2.2e-3 Torr

Will continue ramping TGHT to 500A and watch pressure

Wednesday, July 07, 2021, 16:26

Continue ramping to 550 at 3A/10s

 Wednesday, July 07, 2021, 16:29

holding at 550A, 5.1V for 8 hours 

Wednesday, July 07, 2021, 23:41 

TGHT = 550A, 5.7 V

begin ramp down at -2A/min to 450A and leave for 8 hours

Thursday, July 08, 2021, 08:20

 IGP1= 2.7 e-06 Torr

TGHT = 450A, 4.5V

Will start ramp down at -2A/min to 0A 

Wednesday, September 14, 2021, 21:14

Boat is wrapped with 2 layers of Ta-heat shield

The samples consists of 15 discs of UCx of 14mm diameter

The chamber is currently pumping down.

TGHT will be ramped up to 450 A

Wednesday, September 15, 2021, 07:17

IGP1 = 6.75e-6 Torr

Tapped up manually to 40A.

TGHT = 60 A, 2.39 V

Vacuum stable IG1 = 7.25e-6 Torr

Initiating auto-ramp for TGHT at a rate of 0.2A/min to 445 A

Parameter setup: 5.0e-5 good vac, 8.0e-5 bad vac.

 Wednesday, September 15, 2021, 11:57

IGP1=2.24e-5 Torr

TGHT= 102.016 A, 1.275 V

Autoramp changed to 1A/min to 450 A

Wednesday, September 15, 2021, 12:53

IGP1 = 3.3e-5 torr

TGHT= 150 A,  V

Autoramp changed to 2A/30s to 450 A

 1e-1 good vac, 5e-1 bad vac

Wednesday, September 15, 2021, 12:59

Friday, September 17, 2021, 07:54

IGP1 = 3.81e-6 Torr

TGHT = 449.6 A, 4.31 V

Autoramp set to -2A/min to 0 A 

 Thursday, September 23, 2021, 06:55

A loaded graphite cartridge was set in a tantalum boated and wrapped with 3 tantalum sheets (Wednesday September 22)

IGP1 = 3.6 e-5 Torr

Good vacuum = 5e-2 Torr

Bad vacuum = 5e-1 Torr

Current ramp is 2A per min from 0A to 120A and 1A/10s from 120A to (450-550A)

Thursday, September 23, 2021, 07:09 

IGP1 = 1.84 e-06 Torr

Start Autoramp to 120A @ 2A/min 

Thursday, September 23, 2021, 10:25

Start Autoramp to 550A @ 1A/10s

 IGP1= 1.05e-05 Torr

TGHT= 120 A, 1.06 V

Thursday, September 23, 2021, 11:57 

Pressure drop observed at 530A.  Start 4 hour count.  

Thursday, September 23, 2021, 15:57 

IGP1= 9.1e-06 Torr

After 4 hour reduction started rampdown to 400A at 2A/30s.

8 hour conditioning to start at 16:15 pm

Friday, September 24, 2021, 00:16

TGHT= 399.8 A, 3.5V

IGP1= 2.4 e-06 Torr 

Start ramp down at 2A/min

Wednesday, April 13, 2022, 10:50

P2NC-220323

Preparing the P2N-UCx for online operation on June 2022

Two cartridges were filled with annular UO2/C foils last week.

48 cartridges total

Today, Darwin and I are placing one of the two cartridges in the EVAP1. The cartridge is P2NC-220323.

Thursday, April 14, 2022, 09:34

Carbothermal reduction heating process started with a ramp rate of 3 A/min

Pressure 1.8E-6T

Thursday, April 14, 2022, 10:31

Paused autoramp because pressure increasing too rapidly. Will continue ramp up once pressure stabilizes.

Thursday, April 14, 2022, 11:20

autoramp restarted @3A/min

IGP1=2.7E-4 Torr

Thursday, April 14, 2022, 13:24

After first major outgass finished and pressure trending down, increased autoramp to 5A/min to 600A

Thursday, April 14, 2022, 13:27

IGP1 = 3.3E-4A

TGHT = 600A, 2.5V

decrease ramp rate to 3A/min to 650A

Thursday, April 14, 2022, 13:45

Set autoramp to 670A

Thursday, April 14, 2022, 13:52

paused autoramp at 668A because pressure increase too steep. 

Changed ramp rate to 0.5A/min and restarted ramp up to 700A

Thursday, April 14, 2022, 15:20

Continued increase in current towards 700A while pressure decrease indicated completeness of reduction.

Started rampdown to 650A.

Pressure was 1.7E-4 Torr on IGP1

Friday, April 15, 2022, 06:28  

The current was reduced to 500A @ 3:50 PM yestesterday.

Currently, TGHT = 500A, 2.0V

started aurtoramp down @ -2A/min

IGP1= 2.4E-6 Torr

Monday, May 02, 2022, 12:32

Cartridge reloaded onto EVAP 1. Will heat back up to check carbothermal reduction. 

Tuesday, May 03, 2022, 08:40

IGP1= 1.32e-6 Torr

Good vacuum 1e-1 Torr

Bad vacuum 5e-1 Torr

Autoramp set to 1A/10s to 500A

Autoramped up to 750A @ 1A/10s.  Only slight pressure increases observed areound 150A and 650A to 700 A.  Parameter curves will be evaluated.

Tuesday, May 03, 2022, 11:11

Started rampdown at -1A/10s. 

IGP1 was 3.0e-5 Torr and trending down when rampdown started

 Wednesday, May 04, 2022, 09:42

Yesterday, a second graphite cartridge was installed in EVAP1, it consists of the old, 3-body cartridge design, and was sanded on the outside to be able to fit a P2N container. 

First I tried ramping manually, but the heating tripped because pressure was too high.

Then the parameters were set as previously, but it tripped again

IGP1= 2e-5 Torr

Good vacuum 8e-2 Torr

Bad vacuum 5e-1 Torr

Autoramp set to 1A/10s to 500A

Autoramped up to 700A @ 1A/10s. 

Wednesday, May 04, 2022, 11:40

Another ramping trial, with different heating rate:

IGP1= 3e-5 Torr

Good vacuum 8e-2 Torr

Bad vacuum 5e-1 Torr

Autoramp set to 1A/20s to 700A

Autoramped up to 700A @ 1A/20s.  

Wednesday, May 04, 2022, 15:50

IGP1= 3e-2 Torr

Good vacuum 8e-2 Torr

Bad vacuum 5e-1 Torr

Autoramp set to 1A/20s to 730A

Autoramped up to 720A @ 1A/20s.  

Pressure dropping while current is increasing at autoramp rate.

Wednesday, May 04, 2022, 16:10

From 730A, once the pressure went down to ~1E-3T, the current was suddenly raised to 750A and 770A to see if significant pressure increase was noticed, but small bumps reaching 1.5E-3T were not considered a sign of further reduction.

The rampdown started from a pressure ~1E-3T, from 770A to zero with rate 2A/10s