REACH compliant epoxides used in the synthesis of Fe(III)-based aerogel monoliths for target fabrication

Abstract

Aerogel materials manufactured from metal oxides have been used as components in numerous high-energy density physics targets. These aerogels have been identified to be used as a future target material in the AWE fielded campaigns at the US National Ignition Facility. A wide variety of metal oxide aerogels are required for future campaigns and therefore a versatile manufacturing route is sought; as such, an epoxide-assisted sol-gel route was investigated. Under the European Union Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals legislation, the most commonly used epoxide, propylene oxide, is recognized as a substance of very high concern (SVHC). This work sought to investigate suitable alternative epoxides for use in target manufacture. The outcome was the identification of synthesis routes for stable metal oxide aerogel monoliths using epoxides not subject to the above restrictions.

Review of HPLSE special issue on target fabrication

“…Design and fabrication of gas cell targets for laboratory astrophysics experiments on the Orion highpower laser facility [9] 16. REACH compliant epoxides used in the synthesis of Fe(III)-based aerogel monoliths for target fabrication [17] 17. Assembly and metrology of NIF target subassemblies using robotic systems [8] 18.…”

“…Submissions for the special issue covered the invited topics and also branched out into broader areas and capabilities. Papers described research on: techniques for the production of targets for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] , micro-assembly [3,8,9] , liquid targets [10] , systems for delivery of targets at high repetition rates [5,11,12] , fundamental target fabrication processes [2,4,[13][14][15][16] , low density materials [15,17,18] and metrology methods [7,18,19] . In addition, there were three important review papers [1,5,12] that give an excellent snapshot of the current capabilities across the world.…”

“…A number of papers on low density materials include the manufacture of metal doped foams [15] , including the synthesis of Fe-based aerogels using materials that are sustainable and REACH compliant [17] .…”

“…Special issue content Development of target fabrication for laser-driven inertial confinement fusion at research center of laser fusion [1] Permeation fill-tube design for inertial confinement fusion target capsules [2] Fluid sample injectors for X-ray free electron laser at SACLA [10] Efficient offline production of freestanding thin plastic foils for laser-driven ion sources [13] A new spatial angle assembly method of the ICF target [3] An investigation progress toward Be-based ablator materials for the inertial confinement fusion [4] Review on high repetition rate and mass production of the cryogenic targets for laser IFE [5] An automated, 0.5 Hz nano-foil target positioning system for intense laser plasma experiments [11] Laser-induced microstructures on silicon for laser-driven acceleration experiments [14] Developing targets for radiation transport experiments at the Omega laser facility [15] Targets for high repetition rate laser facilities: needs, challenges and perspectives [12] Large-area suspended graphene as a laser target to produce an energetic ion beam [16] Importance of limiting hohlraum leaks at cryogenic temperatures on NIF targets [6] Surface characterization of ICF capsule by AFM-based profilometer [7] Design and fabrication of gas cell targets for laboratory astrophysics experiments on the Orion high-power laser facility [9] REACH compliant epoxides used in the synthesis of Fe(III)-based aerogel monoliths for target fabrication [17] Assembly and metrology of NIF target subassemblies using robotic systems [8] Modeling the mechanical properties of ultra-thin polymer films [19] X-ray computed tomography of adhesive wicking into carbon foam [18] …”

“…REACH compliant epoxides used in the synthesis of Fe(III)-based aerogel monoliths for target fabrication [17]…”