Understanding the Critical Parameters of the PAMS Mandrel Fabrication Process

Journal Article · Tue Jul 05 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Fusion Science and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.13182/FST15-245· OSTI ID:1343051

Bhandarkar, Suhas ^[1]; Paguio, Reny ^[1]; Elsner, Fred ^[1]; Hoover, Denise ^[1]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

As a part of an effort to continually better the roundness and roughness of ablator capsules, we looked at improving the same for the poly(alphamethylstyrene) or PAMS mandrels used to make the plastic capsules. The importance of this work is based on the fact that the surface properties of the mandrels set the lower limit for the ultimate attributes of the ablator capsule. These mandrels are made using an elegant double-emulsion process that uses the isotropic forces brought about by hydrostatic pressure and interfacial tension to seek sphericity. This paper describes the reasoning that led to investigating the so-called curing process where a solid PAMS shell is generated from a solution phase for achieving this goal. Using modeling to account for the mass transfer of the fluorobenzene solvent phase, we demonstrate that it is the control of the conditions through the percolation point of the system that leads to better mandrels. These concepts were implemented into the fabrication process to demonstrate significant improvements of the roundness of the mandrels.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC52-07NA27344
• OSTI ID: 1343051
• Report Number(s): LLNL-JRNL-677215; TRN: US1701802
• Journal Information: Fusion Science and Technology, Vol. 70, Issue 2; ISSN 1536-1055
• Publisher: American Nuclear Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
42 ENGINEERING