Materials for high vacuum technology, an overview

In modern accelerators stringent requirements are placed on materials of vacuum systems. Their physical and mechanical properties, machinability, weldability or brazeability are key parameters. Adequate strength, ductility, magnetic properties at room as well as low temperatures are important factors for vacuum systems of accelerators working at cryogenic temperatures, such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) under construction at CERN. In addition, baking or activation of Non-Evaporable Getters (NEG) at high temperatures impose specific choices of material grades of suitable tensile and creep properties in a large temperature range. Today, stainless steels are the dominant materials of vacuum constructions. Their metallurgy is extensively treated. The reasons for specific requirements in terms of metallurgical processes are detailed, in view of obtaining adequate purity, inclusion cleanliness, and fineness of the microstructure. In many cases these requirements are crucial to guarantee the final leak tightness of the vacuum components

Vacuum for accelerators: introduction to materials and properties

In modern accelerators, stringent requirements are placed on the materials used for vacuum systems. Their physical and mechanical properties, machinability, weldability and brazeability are key parameters. Adequate strength, ductility, magnetic properties at room as well as low temperatures are important factors for vacuum systems of accelerators working at cryogenic temperatures. In addition, components undergoing baking or activation of Non-Evaporable Getters (NEG) or directly exposed to the beam impose specific choices of material grades for suitable outgassing and mechanical properties in a large temperature range. Today, stainless steels are the dominant materials of vacuum systems. The reasons for specific requirements in terms of metallurgical processes are detailed for obtaining adequate purity, inclusion cleanliness and fineness of the microstructure. In many cases these requirements are crucial to guarantee the final leak tightness of the vacuum components. Innovative manufacturing and material examination technologies are also treated.Comment: 30 page

Effects of Thermocapillary Forces during Welding of 316L-Type Wrought, Cast and Powder Metallurgy Austenitic Stainless Steels

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is now under construction at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). This 27 km long accelerator requires 1248 superconducting dipole magnets operating at 1.9 K. The cold mass of the dipole magnets is closed by a shrinking cylinder with two longitudinal welds and two end covers at both extremities of the cylinder. The end covers, for which fabrication by welding, casting or Powder Metallurgy (PM) was considered, are dished-heads equipped with a number of protruding nozzles for the passage of the different cryogenic lines. Structural materials and welds must retain high strength and toughness at cryogenic temperature. AISI 316L-type austenitic stainless steel grades have been selected because of their mechanical properties, ductility, weldability and stability of the austenitic phase against low-temperature spontaneous martensitic transformation. 316LN is chosen for the fabrication of the end covers, while the interconnection components to be welded on the protruding nozzles will be fabricated from forged 316L or 316LN, and welded 316L tubes. Autogenous welds between the nozzles and the interconnection components will be performed by the automatic orbital TIG technique. Several thousands of welds are foreseen. When welding together grades of slightly different composition, or grades issued from different fabrication methods (cast, PM, cold or hot rolled, forged...), phenomena such as variable weld penetration, "off-centre welding" and "arc wander" may possibly appear, resulting in uncontrolled formation of non axisymmetric welds. Such deflections of the weld pool are difficult to correct for an automatic process and may affect the soundness of the weld. A large and systematic campaign of welding tests associated with video recording of the melt pool has been carried out. Hot metal deflections have been precisely quantified. The results are interpreted in terms of the different content of soluble surface-active elements of the various steel batches and the directions of the thermocapillary flow arising from these different contents. This interpretation gives a quantitative prevision of the hot metal deflections. Possible corrections applicable to automatic welding processes are discussed

Phase stability of high manganese austenitic steels for cryogenic applications

The aim of this work is to study the austenitic stability against a' martensitic transformation of three non-magnetic austenitic steels : a new stainless steel X2CrMnNiMoN 19-12-11-1 grade, a traditional X8CrMnNiN 19-11-6 grade and a high manganese X8MnCrNi 28-7-1 grade. Measurements of relative magnetic susceptibility at room temperature are performed on strained tensile specimens at 4.2 K. A special extensometer for high precision strain measurements at low temperature has been developed at CERN to test specimens up to various levels of plastic strain. Moreover, the high precision strain recording of the extensometer enables a detailed study of the serrated yield phenomena associated with 4.2 K tensile testing and their influence on the evolution of magnetic susceptibility. The results show that high Mn contents increase the stability of the austenitic structure against a' martensitic transformation, while keeping high strength at cryogenic temperature. Moreover, proper elaboration through primary and possibly secondary melting maintains high levels of low temperature ductility

Influence of coating temperature on niobium films

The coating of niobium on copper is the technology successfully used for the production of LEP accelerating cavities. A good understanding of the influence of the different coating parameters on the f ilm properties can contribute to improve the RF performance of such cavities. Several copper samples were coated with a 1.5 mm thick niobium film in a cylindrical magnetron sputtering system, using a rgon as discharge gas. To study the effect of the coating temperature only, a 500 MHz cavity was equipped with three sample-holders on the equatorial region. The latter were kept at different temperat ures during the baking and the simultaneous coating (150ºC, 250ºC and 35ºC). The films were characterised by measuring the RRR, critical temperature, total Ar content and lattice parameter. Films depo sited at higher temperatures show higher RRR and lower Ar content. The film lattice parameter and, consequently, the critical temperature change with the coating temperature. The results are interpret ed in terms of the film bombardment during the growth, of higher niobium surface mobility at higher temperature and of the different thermal expansion coefficients between the niobium film and the sub strate

A powder metallurgy austenitic stainless steel for application at very low temperatures

The Large Hadron Collider to be built at CERN will require 1232 superconducting dipole magnets operating at 1.9 K. By virtue of their mechanical properties, weldability and improved austenite stability, nitrogen enriched austenitic stainless steels have been chosen as the material for several of the structural components of these magnets. Powder Metallurgy (PM) could represent an attractive production technique for components of complex shape for which dimension tolerances, dimensional stability, weldability are key issues during fabrication, and mechanical properties, ductility and leak tightness have to be guaranteed during operation. PM Hot Isostatic Pressed test plates and prototype components of 316LN-type grade have been produced by Santasalo Powdermet Oy. They have been fully characterized and mechanically tested down to 4.2 K at CERN. The fine grained structure, the absence of residual stresses, the full isotropy of mechanical properties associated to the low level of Prior Particle Boundaries oxides resulted in superior mechanical properties and high ductility down to liquid helium temperature. The ready weldability and the leak tightness of the alloy have been demonstrated. The properties measured on test plates are comparable to those found in real components, such as prototype end covers fabricated by the same PM technique

Material Selection and Characterization for High Gradient RF Applications

The selection of candidate materials for the accelerating cavities of the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) is carried out in parallel with high power RF testing. The maximum DC breakdown field of copper, copper alloys, refractory metals, aluminium and titanium have been measured with a dedicated setup. Higher maximum fields are obtained for refractory metals and for titanium, which exhibits, however, important damages after conditioning. Fatigue behaviour of copper alloys has been studied for surface and bulk by pulsed laser irradiation and ultrasonic excitation, respectively. The selected copper alloys show consistently higher fatigue resistance than copper in both experiments. In order to obtain the best local properties in the device a possible solution is a bi-metallic assembly. Junctions of molybdenum and copper-zirconium UNS C15000 alloy, achieved by HIP (Hot Isostatic Pressing) diffusion bonding or explosion bonding were evaluated for their mechanical strength. The reliability of the results obtained with both techniques should be improved. Testing in DC and radiofrequency (RF) is continued in order to select materials for a bi-metal exhibiting superior properties with respect to the combination C15000-Mo

Finite element stress analysis of the CMS magnet coil

The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) is one of the experiments which are being designed in the framework of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project at CERN. The design field of the CMS magnet is 4 T, the magnetic length is 12.38 m and the aperture is 6.36 m. This is achieved with a 4 layer-5 module superconducting Al-stabilized coil energised at a nominal current of 20 kA. The finite element analysis (FEA) carried out is axisymmetric elasto-plastic. FEA has also been carried out on the suspension system and on the conductor. (8 refs)

Brazing of Mo to Glidcop Dispersion Strengthened Copper for Accelerating Structures

Alumina dispersion-strengthened copper, Glidcop, is used widely in high-heat-load ultra-high-vacuum components for synchrotron light sources (absorbers), accelerator components (beam intercepting devices), and in nuclear power plants. Glidcop has similar thermal and electrical properties to oxygen free electrical (OFE) copper, but has superior mechanical properties, thus making it a feasible structural material; its yield and ultimate tensile strength are equivalent to those of mild-carbon steel. The purpose of this work has been to develop a brazing technique to join Glidcop to Mo, using a commercial Cu-based alloy. The effects of the excessive diffusion of the braze along the grain boundaries on the interfacial chemistry and joint microstructure, as well as on the mechanical performance of the brazed joints, has been investigated. In order to prevent the diffusion of the braze into the Glidcop alloy, a copper barrier layer has been deposited on Glidcop by means of RF-sputtering

Aluminum alloy production for the reinforcement of the CMS conductor

The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) is one of the general-purpose detectors to be provided for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project at CERN. The design field of the CMS superconducting magnet is 4 T, the magnetic length is 12.5 m and the free bore is 6 m. To reinforce the high-purity (99.998%) Al-stabilized conductor of the magnet against the magnetic loadings experienced during operation at 4.2 K, two continuous sections of Al-alloy (AA) reinforcement are Electron Beam (EB) welded to it. The reinforcements have a section of 24*18 mm and are produced in continuous 2.55 km lengths. The alloy EN AW-6082 has been selected for the reinforcement due to its excellent extrudability, high strength in the precipitation hardened states, high toughness and strength at cryogenic temperature and good EB weldability. Each of the continuous lengths of the reinforcement is extruded billet on billet and press quenched on-line from the extrusion temperature in an industrial extrusion plant. In order to insure the ready EB weldability of the reinforcement onto the pure aluminum of the insert, tight dimensional tolerances and proper surface finish of the reinforcement are required in the as-extruded state. As well, in order to facilitate the winding operation of the conductor, the uniformity of the mechanical properties of the extruded reinforcement, especially at the billet on billet joints, is critical. To achieve these requirements in an industrial environment, substantial effort was made to refine existing production techniques and to monitor critical extrusion parameters during production. This paper summarizes the main results obtained during the establishment of the extrusion line and of the production phase of the reinforcement. (10 refs)