Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Modeling, Fabrication, And Optimization Of Niobium Cavities: Final Phase, Robert A. Schill Jr., Mohamed Trabia

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

Niobium cavities are important parts of the integrated NC/SC high-power linacs. Over the years, researchers in several countries have tested various cavity shapes. They concluded that elliptically shaped cells are the most appropriate shape for superconducting cavities. The need for very clean surfaces lead to the use of a buffered chemical polishing produce for surface cleaning to get good performance of the cavities. This is the third and final phase of the study.

The first phase has resulted in improving the basic understanding of multipacting and the process of chemical etching. The second phase has resulted in an experimental setup …

Modeling, Fabrication, And Optimization Of Niobium Cavities, Robert A. Schill Jr., Mohamed Trabia, William Culbreth

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

One of the key technologies for the deployment of accelerator driven transmutation systems is the accelerator itself. To increase the efficiency of the high-power accelerators needed to support the transmutation mission, the national and international accelerator teams have proposed using elliptical superconducting niobium cavities. This project is tasked with examining the impacts of the design and fabrication technologies for these elliptical niobium cavities on their performance. Niobium was selected primarily due to its behavior at low temperatures.

One of the major sources of energy loss from a superconducting accelerator cavity is a process known as multiple impacting (or “multipacting”) of …

Modeling, Fabrication, And Optimization Of Niobium Cavities, Robert A. Schill Jr., Mohamed Trabia, Yitung Chen

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

All technologies for the transmutation of nuclear waste require a large source of neutrons. One of the principal methods of generating these neutrons is by using a particle accelerator to bombard a heavy metal target. One of the more promising designs for particle accelerators for transmutation systems is the Superconducting Radio Frequency (RF) high-current linear accelerator (linac). The power supplies for these systems have three major components: niobium cavities, power couplers, and cryomodules. This research project will develop models to predict the behavior and performance of the niobium cavities, which will then be used to design and optimize the superconducting …

Modeling, Fabrication, And Optimization Of Niobium Cavities – Phase I: Quarterly Progress Report August 20, 2001 - November 20, 2001, Robert A. Schill Jr., Mohamed Trabia

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

Multipacting is one of the major loss mechanisms in rf superconductivity cavities for accelerators. This loss mechanism limits the maximum amount of energy/power supported by the cavities. Optimal designs have been identified in others’ studies. In practice, these designs are not easily manufactured. Chemical etching processes used to polish the cavity walls result in a nonuniform surface etch. A nonuniform surface etch will leave some unclean areas with contaminants and micron size particles. These significantly affect mutipacting. Further, a nonuniform etch will leave areas with damaged grain structure, which is not good for superconducting properties. Typically, the depth of chemical …

Modeling, Fabrication, And Optimization Of Niobium Cavities: Phase I, Robert A. Schill Jr., Mohamed Trabia

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

Niobium cavities are important parts of the integrated NC/SC high-power linacs. Over the years, researchers in several countries have tested various cavity shapes. They concluded that elliptically shaped cells and buffered chemical polishing produce good performance. The objective of the proposed research is to maximize the performance of the niobium cavities through studying multipacting, studying the effect of chemical etching on the surface roughness, and redesigning the cavities.

The US Congress has recently authorized exploring an alternative way to deal with spent nuclear fuel: Accelerator Transmuting of Waste (ATW). In this approach, a particle accelerator produces protons that react with …