The R&D program on superconducting cavities fabricated from electron beam melted large grain/single crystal (LG/SC) niobium discs explores it's potential for production of approximately 1000 cavities for the European XFEL. Thermal, electrical, mechanical properties, crystal orientation and structure are investigated with the aim to make the fabrication procedure more efficient. In opposite to fine grain niobium the thermal conductivity of LG/SC has a pronounced maximum at 2K. Calculation found a correlation between thermal conductivity enhancement and phonon scattering at the grain boundaries. Detected enhancement is very susceptible to plastic deformation that can cause the complete elimination of the low temperature peak. The final annealing at 800°C of cavities made from large grain niobium is necessary for hydrogen outgassing, as well as for the thermal conductivity enhancement due to stress relaxation and recovery of crystal defects introduced at the cavity fabrication. The effects of annealing temperature up to 1200°C, heating rate, and holding time on the structure recovery after rolling are also established. Total elongation at the uniaxial tensile tests for LG is very high (50-110%) and depends significantly on the load direction, because only very few grains are in the gage length. The elongation after fracture by bi-axial testing (bulging test) for LG is lower (<15%) yet sufficient for deep drawing of half-cells. Metallographic investigation of and electron beam welding tests on, niobium single crystals show that an appropriate disc enlargement and annealing can be done without destruction of the single crystal. These tests showed that a cavity can be produced without grain boundaries even in the welding area. On base of the results a fabrication method of single crystal cavities is proposed.
Activities of the past several years in developing the technique of forming seamless (weldless) cavity cells by hydroforming are summarized. An overview of the technique developed at DESY for the fabrication of single cells and multicells of the TESLA cavity shape is given and the major rf results are presented. The forming is performed by expanding a seamless tube with internal water pressure while simultaneously swaging it axially. Prior to the expansion the tube is necked at the iris area and at the ends. Tube radii and axial displacements are computer controlled during the forming process in accordance with results of finite element method simulations for necking and expansion using the experimentally obtained strain-stress relationship of tube material. In cooperation with industry different methods of niobium seamless tube production have been explored. The most appropriate and successful method is a combination of spinning or deep drawing with flow forming. Several single-cell niobium cavities of the 1.3 GHz TESLA shape were produced by hydroforming. They reached accelerating gradients E acc up to 35 MV=m after buffered chemical polishing (BCP) and up to 42 MV=m after electropolishing (EP). More recent work concentrated on fabrication and testing of multicell and nine-cell cavities. Several seamless two-and three-cell units were explored. Accelerating gradients E acc of 30-35 MV=m were measured after BCP and E acc up to 40 MV=m were reached after EP. Nine-cell niobium cavities combining three three-cell units were completed at the company E. Zanon. These cavities reached accelerating gradients of E acc ¼ 30-35 MV=m. One cavity is successfully integrated in an XFEL cryomodule and is used in the operation of the FLASH linear accelerator at DESY. Additionally the fabrication of bimetallic singlecell and multicell NbCu cavities by hydroforming was successfully developed. Several NbCu clad singlecell and double-cell cavities of the TESLA shape have been fabricated. The clad seamless tubes were produced using hot bonding or explosive bonding and subsequent flow forming. The thicknesses of Nb and Cu layers in the tube wall are about 1 and 3 mm respectively. The rf performance of the best NbCu clad cavities is similar to that of bulk Nb cavities. The highest accelerating gradient achieved was 40 MV=m. The advantages and disadvantages of hydroformed cavities are discussed in this paper.
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