Development of High-Purity Niobium Materials for Superconducting Cavity

Abstract

High-purity Nb as a superconducting cavity material for accelerators is investigated. In order to carry out Nb purification, a 600-kW electron beam furnace procured by our company. This has made stable refining for cavity applicationgrade material possible by optimizing the melting conditions. The change in hardness achieved by processing in high-purity Nb is definitely different from that of low-purity Nb. High-purity Nb requires considerably high processing power to induce sufficient strain hardening. We believe that the key point of fine forming in high-purity Nb is the homogenization of crystal grain size using a strong process. Trial manufacturing of two single-cell cavities using our high-purity Nb ingot was performed. An accelerating gradient of 35 M/m was achieved using these cavities. Additionally, we succeeded in the fabrication of a seamless tube for a three-cell cavity in a scale-up study. Since the average grain size in the tube for a three-cell cavity is smaller than that for a singlecell cavity, it is expected that a smoother surface will obtained after the hydroforming process.