Experiment 10 - Mylar Bag

 Cell:

• Cathode:  3.5 cm of exposed 0.25mm Ag wire as close as possible to 1 cm x 2 cm Landauer CR-39 chip which is encased in a 6 micron mylar "dry bag"
• Anode:  Approximately 5 cm of 0.5 mm Pt wire with Pt screen spot welded on end  
• WITH magnets

 Electrolyte:

• TGP recipe:  27.5 gm D2O + 0.42 gm LiCl + 0.135 gm PdCl2 

 Procedure:

• TGP current settings:
  • 0.1 mA for 24 hrs
  • 0.2 mA for 24 hrs
  • 0.5 mA until the solution is clear (generally 14 days or more)
  • 1 mA for 24 hrs
  • 5 mA for 24 hrs
  • 10 mA for 24 hrs
  • 25 mA for 24 hrs
  • 50 mA for 24 hrs
  • 100 mA for 24 hrs

Etch:

• 6.5M NaOH at 68°C for 6 hours

Results (Started on 1.2.07 Ended on 1.29.07):

• Mylar bag inflated slightly during the last few days of the run.  Most of the wire was still in good contact with the chip (with the Mylar in between of course)
• No significant tracks visible
• Lots of scratches from sandpapering the edges (an attempt to not puncture the Mylar)