• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.595-602
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• 2023

The EAST ICRF system operating space has been extended in power and phase control with a low-level RF system for the new double-strap antenna. Then the multi-step power and periodic phase scanning experiment were conducted in L-mode plasma, respectively. In the power scanning experiment, the stored energy, radiation power, plasma impedance and the antenna's temperature all have positive responses during the short ramp-ups of P_L;ICRF. The core ion temperature increased from 1 keV to 1.5 keV and the core heating area expanded from |Z| ≤ 5 cm to |Z| ≤ 10 cm during the injection of ICRF waves. In the phasing scanning experiment, in addition to the same conclusions as the previous relatively phasing scanning experiment, the superposition effect of the fluctuation of stored energy, radiation power and neutron yield caused by phasing change with dual antenna, resulting in the amplitude and phase shift, was also observed. The active control of RF output facilitates the precise control of plasma profiles and greatly benefits future experimental exploration.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.283-288
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• 2015

Two sintering methods of a pressureless sintering and a spark-plasma sintering are tested to densify the Fe-TiC composite powders which are fabricated by high-energy ball-milling. A powder mixture of Fe and TiC is prepared in a planetary ball mill at a rotation speed of 500 rpm for 1h. Pressureless sintering is performed at 1100, 1200 and $1300^{\circ}C$ for 1-3 hours in a tube furnace under flowing argon gas atmosphere. Spark-plasma sintering is carried out under the following condition: sintering temperature of $1050^{\circ}C$, soaking time of 10 min, sintering pressure of 50 MPa, heating rate of $50^{\circ}C$, and in a vacuum of 0.1 Pa. The curves of shrinkage and its derivative (shrinkage rate) are obtained from the data stored automatically during sintering process. The densification behaviors are investigated from the observation of fracture surface and cross-section of the sintered compacts. The pressureless-sintered powder compacts show incomplete densification with a relative denstiy of 86.1% after sintering at $1300^{\circ}C$ for 3h. Spark-plasma sintering at $1050^{\circ}C$ for 10 min exhibits nearly complete densification of 98.6% relative density under the sintering pressure of 50 MPa.