Hydroforming of superconducting TESLA cavities

Abstract

Seamless fabrication of single-cell and multi-cell TESLA shape cavities by hydroforming has been developed at DESY. The forming takes place by expanding the seamless tube with internal water pressure while simultaneously swaging it axially. Tube radius and axial displacement are being computer controlled in accordance with results of FEM simulations and the experimentally obtained strain-stress curve of tube material. Several Nb single cell cavities have been produced. A first bulk Nb double cell cavity has been fabricated. The Nb seamless tubes have been produced by spinning and deep drawing. Surface treatment such as buffered chemical polishing, (BCP), electropolishing (EP), high pressure ultra pure water rinsing (HPR), annealing at 800 C and baking at ca. 150 C have been applied. The best single cell bulk Nb cavity has reached an accelerating gradient of E(sub acc) greater than 42 MV/m after ca. 250 micrometer BCP and 100 micrometer EP. Several bimetallic NbCu single cell cavities of TESLA shape have been fabricated. The seamless tubes have been produced by explosive bonding and subsequent flow forming. The thicknesses of Nb and Cu layers in the tube wall are about 1 mm and 3 mm respectively. The RF performance of NbCu clad cavities is similar to that of bulk Nb cavities. The highest accelerating gradient achieved was 40 MV/m after ca. 180 micrometer BCP, annealing at 800 C and, baking at 140 C for 30 hours. The degradation of the quality factor Q(sub 0) after repeated quenching is moderate, after ca. 150 quenches it reaches the saturation point of Q(sub 0) = 1.4 x 10(exp 10) at low field. This indicates that on the basis of RF performance and material costs the combination of hydroforming with tube cladding is a very promising option.