Monday, March 18, 2019, 15:51

Total number of foils: 555

Total mass of material including graphite foils: 478 grams

Total length packed 14.2 cm

container has 3 Ta heat shields.

No endcaps inserted to facilitate outgassing

Two TaC coated Ta wire springs inserted at either end to allow for ZrC expansion.

5 extra foils tucked beneath each spring for QC; total mass (10 discs) =1.0160 g

Desired temp = 1900 C, Auto ramping TGHT at  0.1 A/min to reach 280A A (Omega slope set = 0.990, approx 1400 C, Elog#427),  TGHT will be tapped up accordingly to reach desired temperature. 

TBHT will be set fixed at 230A (max). TBHT at 0.1 A/min to reach 230A.

Good vac at 3.00-5 Torr

Bad vac at 5.0e-5 Torr.

Currently being pumped down.

 Tuesday, March 19, 2019, 08:57

Current pressure IGP1 = 5.24e-07 Torr

Manually tapping to 40A on TBHT and TGHT

At 20 A IGP1 pressure trending up.  Will leave at 20A until trending down.

Pressure @ 20 A set, peaked ~1.8e-06 Torr after 1 hour

Tuesday, March 19, 2019, 10:32

Tapping manually to 50 A on TBHT and TGHT while monitoring IGP1 pressure

Tapped to 25 A and IGP1 pressure trending up.  Will allow to stabilize.

Tuesday, March 19, 2019, 11:34

Pressure stabilized at ~3.25e-06 Torr

Tapped up to 30 A on both TGHT and TBHT

Pressure stabilized at ~6.6e-06

Tapped up to 34A on both TGHT and TBHT

Pressure stabilized at ~1.2e-05 Will allow to drop before proceeding

 Tuesday, March 19, 2019, 13:43

Tapped up to 40A waiting for pressure to stabilize

Pressure shot up ~8.5e-05, therefore tapped down TGHT to 35A (At 35A TGHT current value fluctuates, probably better to ramp up to 36A)

Will let pressure drop before proceeding with TGHT heating

Ramped TGHT to 36A, IGP1 pressure still trending down and current measurements stable.

 Starting autoramp at 0.3A/min for both TGHT and TBHT until 280A and 230A respectively

Initial TGHT Current: 33.6A, 0.05V

Initial TBHT Current: 38.6A, 0.48V

IGP1 = 4.9e-05 Torr

Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 09:41

 TGHT has only ramped to 45.7 A, 0.085V

TBHT has only ramped to 50.2A, 0.62V

IGPI pressure ~4.0 e-5 Torr

Stopping ramp and monitoring pressure to see if it drops appropriate levels.

Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 14:10  

IGP1 pressure = 7.6e-06 Torr

TGHT 47.7Z, 0.16V

TBHT 50.1A, 0.63V

Autoramp at 0.1A/min both TGHT and TBHT to 280A and 230A respectively.

 Thursday, March 21, 2019, 08:12

IGP1 = 3.1e-05 Torr

TGHT = 51.4 A, 0.18V

TBHT=61.9A, 0.87V

Stopped autoramp

Manually ramping TGHT and TBHT while monitoring pressure

 Rampted up TGHT to 54A (reading 65 A), 0.5V and TBHT to 68A, 0.9V

Allowing pressure to stabilize

Manually tapped TGHT to 80A, .81V

Manually tapped TBHT to 90A, 1.3V

IGP1 = .0002 Torr

Will leave over night to allow pressure to drop

Friday, March 22, 2019, 08:17

IGP1 = 6.6e-06

TGHT = 88.8A, 0.81V

TBHT = 90.1A, 1.3V

Will manually tap ~100A on both TBHT and TGHT

Friday, March 22, 2019, 12:18

IGP1 = 1.28e-05 Torr

TGHT = 100.9A, 1.0V

TBHT = 101.2A, 1.5V

will allow pressure to drop slightly the autoramp at 0.1A/min for both TGHT and TBHT until 280A and 230A respectively

Friday, March 22, 2019, 14:51

IGP1= 7.4 e-06 Torr

TGHT = 100.8A, 1.0V

TBHT= 101.5A, 1.5V

Started autoramp at 0.1A/min for both TGHT and TBHT until 280A and 230A respectively

Tuesday, March 26, 2019, 08:18

IGP1 oscillated around ramping trip point 3.0e-05 while current slowly ramped to 280A (reached sometime during the night).

IGP1= 7.8e-06 Torr

TGHT= 283.4A, 4.2V

TBHT= 233.1A, 4.1V

Will continue ramp TGHT @0.2A/min up to 400A  (Omega slope set = 0.990, approx 1800 C, Elog#427)

Wednesday, March 27, 2019, 09:39

Target has been at 400A, OMEGA ~1400C since ~7pm of previous evening

TGHT = 400.2A, 6.45V

TBHT= 233.1A, 4.16V

IGP1= 3.1e-07 Torr

Autoramp TGHT to440A @0.2A/min

 Stopped autoramp at TGHT = 427.4 A and 7.00V, OMEGA= 1492 C

Wednesday, March 27, 2019, 14:14

Restarted TGHT autoramp @.2A/min up to 440A

Friday, March 29, 2019, 12:06

Changed OMEGA slope to 1.09 after checking with the analog pyrometer

IGP1 = 1.65e-07 Torr

TGHT = 441.3A, 7.5V

TBHT= 233.0A, 4.2V

Tapping TGHT to 450A @ ~1A/min while monitoring pressure

TGHT remained at 451A, 7.8 V  and  TBHT at 233.2A, 4.2 V,  for 10.5 hours while OMEGA Temperature ~1810 C.

Ramp-down was initiated with IGP1 = 1.7e-07 Torr

Ramp rate = 2A/min for TGHT and 1/min for TBHT

 Monday, April 01, 2019, 08:53

TGHT = 0A, 0.05V

TBHT= 0.01A, 0V

IGP1= 4.05e-08 Torr

Unloading Target

Target Final weight = 473 g

% Mass of ZrC+C+organics lost = 14.20 % compared to 13.95% theoretical organics content.

Final weight of 10 discs = 0.9250 g

% mass lost on this discs = 13.66%

The tube was slightly bent along the short axis

The discs expanded but more towards one side (possibly due to discrepancy in spring strength).

 One protective graphite disc added to each end

One end cap on each end