Laura Lambert wrote:

Friday, June 20, 2014, 11:14 Total number of foils: 515 discs Total mass of materials [incl graphite foils]: 64.7224g Total length packed: 17.8cm Container is wrapped with 3x Ta-heat shields. Currently being pumped down.  Friday, June 20, 2014, 14:56 HS cooling water valves opened, no leaks detected. IGP1 = 6.2e-6 Torr TGHT max = 820A/ 17V TBHT max = 300A/ 5V Stepping up manually to 40A  Friday, June 20, 2014, 16:04 IGP1 = 8e-6 Torr Slowly stepped up to 35A manually. Vacuum has stabilized. Initiating auto-ramp at 0.1A/min

 Friday, June 20, 2014, 16:16

Changing the heating current... 

From the previous SiC targets, TGHT was ramped up to 800A and yellow crystals were found; the end caps and target legs were also found broken (see my iPad).  This might be too hot for the Ta-boat to handle the sintering process. 

For this process,

TGHT will ramp up to 600A and TBHT to 230A over the weekend. 

Then, the temperature will be measured.  The sintering temperature of SiC is ~1800 - 2000C.