It's all in the Mixture

A. Standard Boats - ECO VAP^® - T-VAP^®

Recommended operating procedure:

To ensure optimum boat performance and to maximize boat life the following procedures should be adhered to:

1. Check alignment and smooth surface of your contacts.
2. Use graphite tape for uniform electrical and thermal contact.
3. Use pieces of aluminium wire for first heat up to determine correct initial boat temperature - not for ECO-VAP without cavity.
4. Adjust wire feed to 1/3 to 1/2 from the end of the cavity.
5. Follow heat up cycle to ensure reannealing of boats during first heat up.
6. Start wire at 75% of normal feed rate and reduce power to achieve maximum wetting over length of cavity.
7. Start metallising and increase wire feed rate over the first 15 minutes of production.
8. Upon completion of the coating:
   1: stop the wire
   2: stop power 30-60 seconds later
9. Wait approx. 2 minutes to release vacuum to ensure boats have cooled to below red heat.

Typical ramp of voltage increase

B. Flash Boats

Recommended operating procedure:

To ensure optimum boat performance and to maximize boat life the following procedures should be adhered to:

1. Check alignment and smooth surface of your contacts.
2. Use graphite tape for uniform electrical and thermal contact.
3. Mount the boats in the clamps, being careful not to create mechanical stresses. Fit the assembly into the cart, ensuring sufficient space for thermal expansion of the boat.
4. Follow heat up and flash procedure.
5. Ensure "dry heat" period is less than 10 seconds; reduce main heat time or voltage as necessary to achieve this.
6. Start metallising at a vacuum better than 2 x 10^-3 mbar.
7. Check the boats during operation.
   A shiny grey crystalline appearance indicates overheating.
   Residual aluminium indicates the boat is too cold.
   
   Adjust voltage accordingly.

Typical flash cycle