Composites of carbon black particles in polyethylene are known to exhibit an unusually rapid increase in resistivity as the applied field is increased, making this material useful in automatically resettable fuses. In this application the composite is in series with the circuit it is protecting: at low applied voltages this circuit is the load, but at high applied voltages the composite becomes the load, limiting the current to the circuit. We present a simple model of this behavior in terms of a network of nonlinear conductors. Each conductor has a conductance that depends on its instantaneous Joule heating. It is shown that in the fusing regime, where the current through the composite decreases with increasing voltage, an plate-like dissipation instability develops normal to the applied field. Experimental evidence of this phenomena is described.

Designing and developing the 1.7 to 2. 1-MJ Power Conditioning System (PCS) that powers the flashlamps for the National Ignition Facility (NIF), currently being constructed at Lawrence Livermore National Labs (LLNL), is one of several responsibilities assumed by Sandia National Labs (SNL) in support of the NIF Project. The test facility that has evolved over the last three years to satisfy the project requirements is called FANTM. It was built at SNL and has operated for about 17,000 shots to demonstrate component performance expectations over the lifetime of NIF. A few modules similar to the one shown in Fig. 1 will be used initially in the amplifier test phase of the project. The final till NIF system will require 192 of them (48 in each of four capacitor bays). This paper briefly summarizes the final design of the FANTM facility and compares its performance with the predictions of circuit simulations for both normal operation and fault-mode response. Applying both the measured and modeled power pulse waveforms as input to a physics-based, semi-empirical amplifier gain code indicates that the 20-capacitor PCS can satisfy the NIF requirement for an average gain coefficient of 5.00 %/cm and can exceed 5.20%/cm with 24 capacitors.

Magnetic field-structured-composites (FSCs) are made by structuring magnetic particle suspensions in uniaxial or biaxial (e.g. rotating) magnetic fields, while polymerizing the suspending resin. A uniaxial field produces chain-like particle structures, and a biaxial field produces sheet-like particle structures. In either case, these anisotropic structures affect the measured magnetic hysteresis loops, with the magnetic remanence and susceptibility increased significantly along the axis of the structuring field, and decreased slightly orthogonal to the structuring field, relative to the unstructured particle composite. The coercivity is essentially unaffected by structuring. We present data for FSCs of magnetically soft particles, and demonstrate that the altered magnetism can be accounted for by considering the large local fields that occur in FSCs. FSCS of magnetically hard particles show unexpectedly large anisotropies in the remanence, and this is due to the local field effects in combination with the large crystalline anisotropy of this material.

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The pressure-induced phase transition in CdS was investigated using picosecond time-resolved electronic spectroscopy in plate impact shock wave experiments. Real-time changes in the electronic spectra were observed, with 100 ps time resolution, in single crystals of CdS shocked along the c and a axes to peak stresses between 35 and 90 kbar (above the phase transition stress of approximately 30 kbar measured in continuum studies). When shocked to stresses above approximately 50 kbar along the crystal c axis and 60 to 70 kbar along the crystal a axis, the crystals undergo a very rapid change in electronic structure, indicating that significant structural changes occur within the first 100 ps. These results, along with previous ns continuum measurements, make a strong case for a metastable state during the phase transition in shocked CdS. Ab-initio periodic Hartree-Fock calculations (with DFT correlation corrections) were employed to examine the compression of CdS and to determine a possible lattice structure for the proposed metastable structure. These results, along with details of the transformation kinetics and orientational dependence, will be discussed. Work supported by ONR.

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Recently, a first-order phase transition is predicted in liquid carbon using atomistic simulation and Brenner's bond order potential. There are also experimental data suggesting a possibility for a first-order phase transition. In light of this, a thermochemical equilibrium code (CHEQ) is used to provide guidance to experiments to find a liquid-liquid phase change in carbon foam and carbon-rich aerogel, resorcinol formaldehyde. Isotherms and Hugoniots were computed based on the previous analysis by van Thiel and Ree. The present calculations predict the liquid-liquid-graphite triple point to be at 5000 K and 5.2 GPa and its critical point to be at 6000 K and 8.8 GPa. The present Hugoniot calculations suggest that the liquid-liquid phase transition may be detected by performing a shock experiment with initial density of approximately 0.15 gm/cm{sup 3}.

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A discovery Unreviewed Safety Question (USQ) was declared on the underground waste storage tanks at the Hanford Site in May 1996. The USQ was for condensed-phase organic-nitrate reactions (sometimes called organic complexant reactions) in the tanks. This paper outlines the steps taken to close the USQ, and resolve the related safety issue. Several processes were used at the Hanford Site to extract and/or process plutonium. These processes resulted in organic complexants (for chelating multivalent cations) and organic extraction solvents being sent to the underground waste storage tanks. This paper addresses the organic complexant hazard. The organic complexants are in waste matrices that include inert material, diluents, and potential oxidizers. In the presence of oxidizing material, the complexant salts can be made to react exothermically by heating to high temperatures or by applying an external ignition source of sufficient energy. The first organic complexant hazard assessments focused on determining whether a hulk runaway reaction could occur, similar to the 1957 accident at Kyshtm (a reprocessing plant in the former U.S.S.R.). Early analyses (1977 through 1994) examined organic-nitrate reaction onset temperatures and concluded that a bulk runaway reaction could not occur at the Hanford Site because tank temperatures were well below that …

The Mining and Reclamation Technology Symposium was commissioned by the Mountaintop Removal Mining/Valley Fill Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Interagency Steering Committee as an educational forum for the members of the regulatory community who will participate in the development of the EIS. The Steering Committee sought a balanced audience to ensure the input to the regulatory community reflected the range of perspectives on this complicated and emotional issue. The focus of this symposium is on mining and reclamation technology alternatives, which is one of eleven topics scheduled for review to support development of the EIS. Others include hydrologic, environmental, ecological, and socio-economic issues.

Titanate ceramics are being developed for the immobilization of weapons-grade plutonium. These multi-phase ceramics are intended to be both corrosion and proliferation resistant. Reactive sintering techniques were refined to reproducibly provide titanate ceramics for further characterization and testing. Plutonium-bearing pyrochlore-rich composites were consolidated to greater than 90% of their theoretical density.