Recent results in glass shell fabrication
Wayne J. Miller, Raymond P. Belanger · OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) · 1988
As the ICF program advances, the energy delivered by drivers increases, requiring glass shell targets of larger diameters and wall thicknesses. Our glass shell fabrication goals then are to steadily increase the range of diameters and wall thicknesses we can make as well to increase the average wall uniformity over the entire size range. Using our drop tower technology we are pursuing two approaches: to optimize the key experimental processing parameters, and to optimize the feed-stock gel composition. In the early 80's we emphasized the processing parameters, achieving greater control and reliability over the process as well as extending the shell size range. More recently we have concentrated on the gel feed-stock. In this paper we report significant increases in the shell size range and overall wall uniformity of our shells using optimal gel feed-stock. In addition we report on-going experiments (similar to those used in industry for quality assurance) designed to identify any significant processing parameters not found by our other methods. 5 refs., 5 figs.