Dry powder technique for the preparation of carbon foils

One through eight mg/cm2 carbon foils for use as accelerator targets have been prepared from an air suspension of graphite powder which was allowed to settle and was subsequently pressed. Keys to the process are the use of: (1) a DeVilbiss medicinal powder blower and (2) vacuum-evaporated carbon coated glass slides as the substrate for the settling and pressing operations. In all of several trials, the targets did not stick to the glass slides, could be handled with forceps, trimmed with a razor blade, and mounted over a 20 mm diameter hole. Uniformity was better than 10%