Hi Dan, I understand i can activate thoriated tungsten in situ or even carburizing it to increase the life of the stuff, but as to whether it can survive long enough in a hydrogen ion environment which i expect would tend to etch materials pretty well. I thought if i could shift to a higher vacuum with a diffusion pump i might get it to run for a few hours or so to run some tests. Another reason I am clinging to this material is that it's available down at the local welding shop as opposed to strontium carbonate which I'd need for an activated oxide filament, also i can repeatedly activate it as needed. Admittedly it's not as good as oxide but according to Eimac it's 1000 times better than raw tungsten. All in all i guess i can get by without a good emitter but it would have been nice to have had a cheap working material available.
regards Mark Harriss
Created on Monday, December 18, 2000 9:32 PM EDT by Mark G Harriss