Friday, September 24, 2021, 15:38

Full target loaded with ~500 non-active foils plus 4 active foils.  

Initial pressure when heating: 6.6E-5 T 

Manually went to:

TGHT=125 A 

TBHT=50 A

with increments of 5 A each. Pressure has little spikes but mostly unchanged (going down, actually).

Friday, September 24, 2021, 15:42

Manually went to

TGHT=180 A 

TBHT=80 A

Pressure going up steadily, max pressure <2E-4

Friday, September 24, 2021, 16:48

From TGHT=180 A, TBHT=80 A we are aiming at going to TGHT=580 A and TBHT=230 A in increments of 50 A each and leave it there for a total of 5 minutes after nominal parameters are reached. Initial pressure 1.3E-5 T.

Friday, September 24, 2021, 17:01

Fast rampup done, we were up there in 30 seconds.

TGHT VOL = 6.6 V

TBHT VOL = 3 V

Max pressure 2E-3 T. Both TGHT and TBHT were shut off abruptly on purpose. 

 Friday, November 05, 2021, 13:23

Full target loaded with ~500 non-active foils plus 4 active foils.  

Initial pressure when heating: 1.6E-5 T 

Manually went to:

TGHT=125 A 

TBHT=50 A

with increments of 5 A each. Pressure has little spikes but mostly unchanged (going down, actually).

Stayed at those values for 2 min 

Friday, November 05, 2021, 13:37 

Manually went to

TGHT=180 A 

TBHT=80 A

maximum pressure 6.6e-5 Torr

Friday, November 05, 2021, 13:43

IGP1 =  2.45e-5 Torr

We are aiming at going to TGHT=580 A and TBHT=230 A in increments of 50 A each and leave it there for a total of 5 minutes after nominal parameters are reached 

Friday, November 05, 2021, 13:55

IGP1 =  1.7e-5 Torr

Heating done, we stayed at 530A for a bit long (~15 sec) during the heating so the total heat time at 580A was interrupted at 4 mins 50 seconds instead of 5 mins. All good, max pressure during the heating was 0.013 T.

Wednesday, November 24, 2021, 10:38

A first, short "FullTa1" target was loaded into the evap1. It consists of a short container (10 cm) with lateral thickness of ~0.2mm. The ends of the target connect with the TGHT terminals through two copper adapters.

After pumpdown down to ~4E-5 T, the TGHT was ramped gradually to 200 A in the next ~5 mins, leaving the target at 200 A for about 10 mins. Then, the current was increased fastly to 450 A in about 30 seconds, and was left at 450 A for a minute. 

Note: the one minute at 450 A started when the TGHT voltage drop across stabilized, considered a sign of temperature homogeneity across the target container

Wednesday, November 24, 2021, 14:34

The second short container "FullTa2" target has been loaded and heated, following the same procedure as above. In this case, the initial pumpdown went to a lower pressure (1.5E-5 T instead of ~4E-5 T) resulting in lower pressure throughout the whole procedure

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 

John Wong wrote:

Thursday, May 30, 2013, 16:16 The target container was previously coated with TaC and sintered in Evap 2. The target is loaded with 250 discs of UCx (material from batch#03_02042013) Total length = 8.9cm The container is wrapped with 3 layers of Ta-heat shield, including the back block. A regular TaC coated/sintered endcap is inserted on left, wrt to the ionizer tube pointing out of the page.  The right end is open with no cap.  (Did not use a D-cap... trying out this method.  Need to be careful when handling the target!) The chamber is dumping down.  Instructions for conditioning the UCx target: 1.  TGHT will need to heat up to ~175A to burn off the organics.        Parameter setup:  5.0e-5 good vac, 6.0-5 bad vac.  The auto-ramping rate is set to 0.1A/min. 2.  Once the organics have burnt off, ramp down the TGHT to 0A at 2A/min. 3.  Purge the glovebox with argon gas.  4.  Vent the chamber with Ar gas.  Close the valve when it is completely vented. 5.  Remove the target.  Be careful the left end (view from the top) is open with the D-cap.  6.  Clean the chamber with TCE and remove all the gunge. 7.  Install the target back 8.  Pump down the chamber to at least low 10e-6 Torr before begin the final carbonization process. 9.  Auto-ramp the TGHT current to 175A at 1A/min. 10.  Once the TGHT reach to 175A.  Auto-ramp TGHT to 520A at 0.1A/min. 11.  At 520A, keep heating the target for at least 4-5 hours. 12.  Auto ramp TGHT to 0A at 2A/min. 13.  Purge the glovebox with argon for at least 5 min 14.  Vent the chamber with argon gas.  Close the vavle when it is completely vented. 15.  Remove the target from the chamber and put in the "orange box" and transport to the Ar-glove box. Done!  Friday, May 31, 2013, 18:17 Chamber has pumped down to 6.7e-6 Torr.  Ramping up TGHT to 175A.  Wednesday, June 05, 2013, 11:14 TGHT reached to 227A/1.99V. (see attachment#1) TGHT is ramping down to 0A  to clean up the chamber before continue with the conditioning.

 Wednesday, June 05, 2013, 16:45

Glove box purged with Ar, ~30min

Chamber vented with Ar

Target removed. chamber cleaned with TCE.

Chamber pumped back down

IG1 currently at 1.4E-4 torr

See attachment 1 before chamber was cleaned

Thursday, June 06, 2013, 11:38

Chamber has been pumped down overnight

IG1 currently at 4.7E-06 Torr, BP at 30 mTorr

TGHT will be ramped up to 220A at 1A/min

 Tuesday, June 25, 2013, 14:35

UO2/C green was prepared on June 18, 2013 and let dry over the weekend.

UO2 powder used = 50.25g (Inventory R-00835A UO2 + bottle = 845.94g - before use)

Graphite powder used = 10.0g

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

The Ta-target boat was wrapped with a 3-Ta heat shields and installed in the Evap#1 on June 24, 2013

The chamber has been pumped down

IG1 currently at 4.6E-06 torr

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

Vacuum limit stop at 5.0E-05 torr, backing off at 6.0E-05 torr

Thursday, August 01, 2013, 16:16

The target container was previously coated with TaC and sintered in Evap 2.

The target is loaded with 210 discs of UCx (material from batch # 04 - 05032013)

Total length = 7.2cm

The container is wrapped with 3 layers of Ta-heat shield, including the back block.

A regular TaC coated / sintered endcap is inserted on left, wrt the ionizer tube pointing out of the page. The right end is open with no cap.

The chamber is pumping down.

Instructions for conditioning the UCx target:

1. TGHT will need to heat up to ~ 175A to burn off the organics.

    Parameter setup: 5.0e-5 good vac, 6.0e-5 bad vac. The auto-ramping rate is set to 0.1A/min.

2. Once the organics have burnt off, ramp down the TGHT to 0A at 2A/min.

3. Purge the glovebox with argon gas.

4. Vent the chamber with Ar gas. Close the valve when it is completely vented.

5. Remove the target. Be careful the left end (view from the top) is open with the D-cap.

6. Clean the chamber with TCE and remove all the gunge.

7. Install the target back

8. Pump down the chamber to at least low 10e-6 Torr before begin the final carbonization process.

9. Auto-ramp the TGHT current to 175A at 1A/min.

10. Once the TGHT reach to 175A. Auto-ramp TGHT to 520A at 0.1A/min.

11. At 520A, keep heating the target for at least 4-5 hours.

12. Auto ramp TGHT to 0A at 2A/min.

13. Purge the glovebox with argon for at least 5 min.

14. Vent the chamber with argon gas. Close the valve when it is completely vented.

15. Remove the target from the chamber and put in the "orange james bond box" and transport to the Ar-glove box.

Done!

John Wong wrote:

John Wong wrote: Thursday, August 22, 2013, 17:31 1st attempt: UO2/C green was prepared on Aug 14, 2013 (wed).  The slurry was cast on a piece of glass coated with WD40. The cast was let dry until Aug 26 (Mon) - couldn't peel off from the glass.  2nd attempt: So, scrapped off cast, mixed with 30ml H20 in the WC jar, re-milled for 3 hrs, and cast/let dry over night  - SAME SHIT! couldn't peel off!  Don't understand why?! 3rd attempt: scrapped off, added the additional compositions: 1g PEG400,1g Glycerol, 10g 7% PVA, 2ml n-butanol, 2ml methonal, 20ml DI H2O. Re-milled for 3 hours, cast and let dry!  Wahlaa... it works! (See attachment#1: pretty uranium pancake!) However... During this process, some lost of uranium was resulted.  The slurry was more viscous than normal.  Some material was stuck to the WC jar wall and the balls. Initial UO2 powder used = 50.14g (Inventory R-00835A UO2 + bottle = 795.56 before use) Graphite powder used = 10g. 1st attempt dried UO2/C + organic  mass = 55.75g 2nd attempt = didn't measure 3rd attempt + additional org mass = 44.5g  (expecting to loss more uranium from the scraping/sticking to jar/balls) The green was rolled up and wrapped in a piece of graphite sheet. The Ta-target boat was wrapped with 3-Ta layers of heat shield and installed in Evap1 on Aug 22, 2013. Chamber is currently being pumped down. IG1 @ 2.4e-4 Torr. Target will be ramped up to 520A at the rate of 0.1A/min Vacuum limit stop at 5.0e-5 Torr, backing off at 6.0e-5 Torr      Friday, August 23, 2013, 15:08 The chamber wasn't pumping down well; there was a problem with the seal on the lid. Rick M. replaced it.  The chamber is currently being pumped down;  it seems OK!

 Tuesday, September 10, 2013, 12:13

The TGHT reached zero on Monday and the chamber was left under vacuum overnight at 1.3e-6 Torr.

The chamber was accidentally vented in air until ~25mTorr for ~10min, then it was quickly pumped down again for ~10min before it was vented in Ar.

The chamber was vented in Ar and the UC2 flakes were transported into the Ar-glove box.

The process is complete 

Thursday, September 19, 2013, 15:35

UO2/C green was prepared on Aug 17, 2013. The slurry was cast on a piece of glass coated with WD40.

The cast was let dry until Aug 19, 2013.

Initial UO2 powder used = 49.97g (Inventory R-00835A UO2 + bottle = 745.42 before use)

Graphite powder used = 10.12g

Green cast dried UO2/C + organic mass = 59.62g

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

The Ta-target boat was wrapped with 3-Ta layers of heat shield and installed in Evap1 on Sept 19, 2013.

Chamber is currently being pumped down. IG1 @ 9.97e-12T.

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

Vacuum limit stop at 5.0e-5 Torr, backing off at 6.0e-5 Torr

Thursday, January 23, 2014, 16:26 

 A new target boat was sprayed with TaC coating and let dry, the coating appeared slightly bubbly once dried [see attached photos].

The target boat was wrapped with 3-layers of Ta-heat shield.

The boat was installed in Evap#1, chamber is currently being pumped down overnight.

Laura Lambert wrote:

Thursday, January 23, 2014, 16:26   A new target boat was sprayed with TaC coating and let dry, the coating appeared slightly bubbly once dried [see attached photos]. The target boat was wrapped with 3-layers of Ta-heat shield. The boat was installed in Evap#1, chamber is currently being pumped down overnight.

 Friday, January 24, 2014, 14:42

Chamber was pumped down to 5.9e-6 Torr overnight.

TGHT was stepped up to 35A.

Waited 20min, vacuum consistently stable, auto-ramp initiated at 0.2A/min and max setpoint to 580A.

Good vacuum: 5e-5 Torr. Bad vacuum: 6e-5 Torr.

Laura Lambert wrote:

Laura Lambert wrote: Thursday, January 23, 2014, 16:26   A new target boat was sprayed with TaC coating and let dry, the coating appeared slightly bubbly once dried [see attached photos]. The target boat was wrapped with 3-layers of Ta-heat shield. The boat was installed in Evap#1, chamber is currently being pumped down overnight.    Friday, January 24, 2014, 14:42 Chamber was pumped down to 5.9e-6 Torr overnight. TGHT was stepped up to 35A. Waited 20min, vacuum consistently stable, auto-ramp initiated at 0.2A/min and max setpoint to 580A. Good vacuum: 5e-5 Torr. Bad vacuum: 6e-5 Torr.

 Monday, January 27, 2014, 11:01

TGHT reached 580A over the weekend.

TGHT auto-cooldown initiated at 2.0A/min.

 Tuesday, January 28, 2014, 15:51

Chamber cooled down overnight, vented and opened up this morning.

Target boat looks good! [See attached photos]

 Wednesday, February 05, 2014, 14:13

1st attempt:

UO2/C green was prepared on Feb 4, 2014 [tues]. The slurry was cast on a piece of glass coated with WD40.

The cast was let dry until Feb 5, 2014 [wed] - the cast was cracked and too much WD40 was used because there were oil patches [see attached photo: cast1]; however, the cast peeled off the glass very nicely.

2nd attempt:

Due to cracked and oil patches, decided to re-mill and try again.

Scrapped off cast, added the additional compositions:

1g PEG400, 1g Glycerol, 14g 5% PVA, 2mL n-butanol, 2mL methanol, 20mL DI H2O

Re-milled for 3 hours and cast onto glass coated with slightly less WD40.

Before even allowing cast to dry, can see the slurry is far too thick. The slurry would not spread at all.

Will let dry overnight and attempt to scrape off and re-mill with more DI H2O tomorrow.

 Thursday, February 06, 2014, 10:57

Second cast was a lot thicker, but peeled off the glass nicely, will not re-cast. [see attached photo: cast2]

Some material was stuck to the WC jar wall and the balls, same as previously.

Initial UO2 powder used = 50.24g (Inventory R-00855A UO2 + bottle = 695.52g before use)

Graphite powder used = 10.05g

1st attempt = did not measure

2nd attempt dried UO2/C + organic mass = 46.56g (expecting to lose more uranium from re-casting a second time/ sticking to jar + balls)

The green was rolled up and wrapped in a piece of graphite sheet. [see attached photo: target boat]

The Ta-target boat was wrapped with 3-layers of heat shield and installed in EVAP1.

Chamber us currently being pumped down.

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

Vacuum limit stop at 5.0e-5 Torr, backing off at 6.0e-5 Torr.

 Friday, February 07, 2014, 10:15

Chamber has pumped down overnight. IG1 currently @ 2.4e-6 Torr.

 Stepped up TGHT to 35A/0.187V.

Friday, February 07, 2014, 12:02 

TGHT sat at 35A for 2hrs. Pressure took a while to fully stabilize, currently sitting at 1.9e-5 Torr [see attached photo: pre auto-ramp]

Initiating auto-ramping.

 Monday, February 24, 2014, 13:37

TGHT reached max setpoint of 520A on friday night.

Power = 5.45V

IGP1 = 3.2e-6 Torr.

Carbonization process is complete.

Initiating auto-cooling at 2.0A/min.

 Thursday, October 09, 2014, 13:41

update rename: batch #09 - 02062014 to UC2Flk_01

John Wong wrote:

Tuesday, March 04, 2014, 15:43 Theses endcaps (4) were previously sinterred in Evap#2 but some surfaces were not fully sinterred. (See Evaporator2 E-log ID119: https://elog.triumf.ca/TIS/Evaporator_2/119) The endcaps are inserted in a target boat wrapped with 3 heat-shields.  Chamber is currently being pumped down.  TGHT will be rampped up to 580A and heat for >4hrs.

 Wednesday, March 05, 2014, 10:20

IGP1 = 9.2e-7 Torr.

TGHT was stepped up to 35A and stabilized after half an hour.

Auto-ramp initiated at 2.0A/min, max setpoint = 580A.

Vacuum started to climb too fast, auto-ramp aborted.

Will step up manually...

 Wednesday, March 05, 2014, 12:18

Slowly stepped up to 100A manually.

Vacuum stable.

Initiating auto-ramp at 1.0A/min

 Wednesday, March 05, 2014, 13:17

IGP1 = 9.8e-6 Torr.

Current = 200A

Vacuum stable.

Stepping ramping rate up to 2.0A/min.

 Wednesday, March 05, 2014, 16:12

IGP1 = 4.6e-5 Torr, TGHT = 548A

Stopped auto-ramp to allow vacuum to settle back down.

Waited ~10min

IGP1 = 3.6e-5 Torr

Re-initiating auto-ramp at 2.0/min

John Wong wrote:

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.

Wednesday, July 09, 2014, 13:55

TGHT reached 520A tuesday morning. [see attached archive screenshot]

Initiated auto-cool at 1.0A/min tuesday afternoon.

Vented in air and took samples out of EVAP1 wednesday morning. [see attached sample photo]

 Tuesday, August 26, 2014, 11:54

UO2/C green was prepared Aug 20, 2014. The slurry was cast on a piece of glass coated with WD40 on Aug 21, 2014.

The cast peeled off the glass nicely Aug 22, 2014 and let dry until Aug 25, 2014.

Some materials were stuck on the WC jar wall and balls as always noted.

Initial UO2 powder used = 50.75g (Inventory R-00835A UO2 + bottle = 595.37g before use)

Graphite powder used = 10.78g

Green cast dried UO2/C + organic mass = 62.86g

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

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

Chamber is currently being pumped down.

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

Vacuum limit stop at 5.0e-5 Torr, backing off at 6.0e-5 Torr

 Wednesday, August 27, 2014, 11:18

Chamber has pumped down overnight. IG1 = 6.4e-6 Torr

Stepped TGHT up to 35A.

 Wednesday, August 27, 2014, 14:41

Waited 1.5hrs for vacuum to fully stabilize, currently sitting at 2.2e-5 Torr.

Initiating auto-ramp.

 Friday, September 12, 2014, 14:09

TGHT reached max 520A/5.6V last night.

Carbonization process complete (see attachment: carbonization)

IG1 = 7.6e-6 Torr 

Initiating auto-cool at 2A/min

Will vent the chamber with Ar on Monday.

 Monday, September 22, 2014, 14:52

complete, UO2/C in glove box

 Thursday, October 09, 2014, 13:45

update rename: batch #11 - 08262014 to UC2Flk_03

 Tuesday, September 23, 2014, 14:54

UO2/C green was prepared Sept 18, 2014. The slurry was cast on a piece of glass coated with WD40 on Sept 19, 2014.

The cast was let dry over the weekend and peeled off the glass nicely Sept 22, 2014.

Some materials were stuck on the WC jar wall and balls as always noted.

Initial UO2 powder used = 50.04g (Inventory R-00835A UO2 + bottle = 544.51g before use)

Graphite powder used = 9.98g

Green cast dried UO2/C + organic mass = 59.35g

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

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

Chamber is currently being pumped down.

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

Vacuum limit stop at 5.0e-5 Torr, backing off at 6.0e-5 Torr.

 Wednesday, September 24, 2014, 11:27

Chamber pumped down overnight.

IGP1 = 2.3e-6 Torr

Manually stepping TGHT up to 30A

 Wednesday, September 24, 2014, 14:00

Vacuum stable.

IGP1 = 1.3e-5 Torr.

Initiating auto-ramp.

 Friday, October 17, 2014, 11:47

Target container was previously coated with TaC spray and sintered.

It's is wrapped with 3 layers of Ta-heat shield, including the center block.

The target consists of 255 discs of UCx with 10.5cm in length.

A regular TaC coated endcap is inserted right, wrt the ionizer tube pointing down, so the left is open with a removable half-cap to allow out-gassing.

The chamber was pumped down overnight.

TGHT will be ramped up to 520A - keep heating the current for 4-5 hours.

Parameter setup: 5.0e-5 good vac, 6.0e-5 bad vac.

Auto ramp at 0.1A/min.

 Friday, October 17, 2014, 13:25

IG1 = 2.6e-6 Torr

Manually stepped up to 35A

Waited ~1hr15

IG1 = 4.2e-6 Torr

Initiating auto-ramp.

John Wong wrote:

Laura Lambert wrote:  Friday, October 17, 2014, 11:47 Target container was previously coated with TaC spray and sintered. It's is wrapped with 3 layers of Ta-heat shield, including the center block. The target consists of 255 discs of UCx with 10.5cm in length. A regular TaC coated endcap is inserted right, wrt the ionizer tube pointing down, so the left is open with a removable half-cap to allow out-gassing. The chamber was pumped down overnight. TGHT will be ramped up to 520A - keep heating the current for 4-5 hours. Parameter setup: 5.0e-5 good vac, 6.0e-5 bad vac. Auto ramp at 0.1A/min.  Friday, October 17, 2014, 13:25 IG1 = 2.6e-6 Torr Manually stepped up to 35A Waited ~1hr15 IG1 = 4.2e-6 Torr Initiating auto-ramp.    Monday, October 20, 2014, 14:10 There were two big power bumps occurred on Saturday Oct 18 and wiped all the IOC/PLC on the Evaporators.   All the system, including TGHT/pumps/EPICS/Alarm handlers were found off.  The ion gauge was turned on this morning and showed the pressure was around 16mTorr. (see attachment). The pump has been turned back on; pressure is currently at 3.5e-6 Torr. Ramping up TGHT...  Monday, November 03, 2014, 12:05 TGHT has reached to 580A and the target has conditioned at that current for about 3 days.  Cooling down at 2A/min.  Wednesday, November 05, 2014, 16:40 UCx conditioning complete. Target is now in the Ar-glove box.  End caps are inserted but need to be expanded. Need to insert Re foil prior to assembly.

 Monday, November 10, 2014, 13:48

UCx was being assembled, but as one of the endcaps was being expanded, the target container broke [friday nov 7th].

attempting to recover the materials and re-load into a new container now...

 Monday, November 10, 2014, 15:52

new target materials weight total [incl graphite] = 23.368g

(33.994g of materials taken out of broken target)