Effect of Tube Distance on the Distribution of GDP Coating Rate.

Glow Discharge Polymer is one of several materials used in order to create targets for the National Ignition Facility. It is coated onto plastic spheres and the inside is filled with fuel. While being coated the shells are rolled in order to ensure a uniform coating, but they may spend different lengths of time in different regions of the pan due to a variety of factors. The glass tubes used to deliver the GDP are also non-uniform, which can lead to differences in the thickness of the capsules. This experiment involves measuring the GDP at a variety of heights, in order to build a model to predict the distribution at any height. We will accomplish this by placing adjustable jacks in the GDP coating chamber and coating onto flat pieces of glass to get an accurate view of the coating distribution, which is assumed to be Gaussian. An additional factor being tested is whether thicker coatings of GDP change the height enough to impact the coating rate, this would suggest that coating rate would also be dependent on coat thickness.