Beryllium Dust Generation in PISCES-B Due to Plasma-Material Interactions
Abstract
The PISCES-B device has started plasma-beryllium experiments in its new location at U.C. San Diego. An improved controlled atmosphere enclosure was constructed to assure safe operation with beryllium materials. In the previous experimental campaign we found that a total of 600 mg of beryllium had been eroded during materials tests. This provided us with a unique opportunity to investigate the lost beryllium. Swipe sampling and vacuum sampling of the PISCES-B vacuum chamber revealed that 3% of the eroded beryllium resided as uniformly distributed loose dust within the vacuum chamber. An additional 33% of the eroded beryllium was coated onto the chamber wall. Filtering through a series of decreasing pore size meshes revealed a uniform distribution of particle sizes in the respirable range (between 10mm - 0.1mm), fewer larger particles (>50mm) were observed. This work is supported by USDOE under grant DE-FG03-95ER-54301.
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- November 1996
- Bibcode:
- 1996APS..DPP..3R27D