Abstract
An important technical problem in the study of high-temperature corrosion of graphite materials and SiC-C structures in water vapor in vacuum is to ensure a stable partial pressure (0.001–1.0 Pa) of water vapor in the sample zone. Since the temperature in the sample zone can reach 1400–1700 K, then it is not possible to locate sensors for measuring the vapor pressure there. The paper proposes a method of using metal surfaces of existing or specially introduced elements of a vacuum system (receivers, tanks, pipelines) as a source of water for their controlled heating. Using the computer model of the gas-vacuum environment of the corrosion plant, the ratio of water pressures at the point of sample location and at the point of sampling of the mass analyzer is calculated. The resulting ratio and the analog signal of the mass analyzer (water peak, 18 amu) are used for PID control of the desorption temperature to achieve the required vapor pressure.