Ion Beam Lab

7:10 pm - Day 11 of Irradiation

6.22% for a total 40.6% completed today on the 2 dpa irradiaiton. After running for a while all the kinks got worked out and everything ran stable at steady state. Will start up again on Monday morning.

Cathode not exchanged but has life left in it.

4:00 pm - Failed Start

Complications with the damage stage and cathode from Friday caused a failed run for the day. A new batch of cathodes was tested (A-507) and showed good start up late in the afternoon. Magnets and accelerator were tested for through put and showed good response. Run will resume after NRA is completed.

4:09 pm - Leak Fixed

The leak in the heat exchanger has been repaired. The accelerator is back on-line and ready for use.

9:22 am - Vac System Down

The injector, magnet, and RF fore pumps were down as well as the magnet and RF turbos. The injector vac is back to fully operational, but the magnet and RF vac system is completely down and is not responding to restarts. This issue will be solved before starting today.

7:37 pm - Irradiation

6.15% of 3 dpa was completed today. The beam was shut down earlier than expected due to a seemingly unresolvable low throughput in the accelerator. This occurred after both the switching magnet and injection magnet shut down unexpectedly; magnet power was lost although both remained turned on. Turning them both off/on resolved that issue, but upon restart there was only about 20% of the current seen on cup 1 making it to cup 2. Refocusing, restarting, changing the stripper gas pressure was to no avail. I'm at a loss.

Also, note that the Cs oven temperature monitor is working only intermittently.

8:49 am - Leaky Heat Exchanger

Came in this morning with water on the floor. Tracked the problem to a leaky copper pipe inside the heat exchanger. The pin hole leak is currently patched with a rubber hose and clamp. The temporary fix should hold through the weekend until more extensive repairs can be completed.

Also, last night we were able to get another 9.1%. A total of 1.56 dpa out of 3 is completed.

11:40 pm - Irradiation

10% of 2 dpa was completed today. Irradiation will resume tomorrow morning. Cathode has NOT been changed out.

10:01 am - Repairs Completed

The repairs to the accelerator have been completed. New electrical feed throughs were installed and leak checked. The corona points, and SF6 filter media were replaced. The charging system was inspected, the interior of the tank was cleaned, and oil in all vacuum pumps was changed. The ionizer was inspected and cleaned. The tank has been refilled and is back on line.

11:30 pm - Day 7: Adv. Steel 400C

9.1% of the 2 dpa push accomplished (1.182/3.0 dpa). Irradiation will be delayed while SF6 leaks are repaired in the accelerator tank. Expect for it to start up again mid next week.

6:19 pm - Round 2

Samples are loaded and ready to push to 2/3 dpa. Experiment will start tomorrow morning.