BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
PVI, Oxnard, California, USA
To alleviate the problems of unacceptable ohmic heating and of electron clouds, a 50 cm long cathode magnetron mole was fabricated and successfully operated to copper coat an assembly containing a full-size stainless steel cold bore RHIC magnet tubing connected to two types of RHIC bellows, to which two additional RHIC tubing pipes were connected. To increase cathode lifetime, movable magnet package was developed, and thickest possible cathode was made, with rather challenging target to substrate distance of less than 1.5 cm. The magnetron is mounted on a carriage with spring loaded wheels that successfully crossed bellows and adjusted for variations in vacuum tube diameter, while keeping the magnetron centered. Electrical power and cooling water are fed through a motorized spool driven umbilical cabling system, which is enclosed in a flexible braided metal sleeve. Optimized process to ensure excellent adhesion was developed. Coating adhesion of 10 μm Cu surpassed all industrial tests; exceeded maximum capability of a 12 kg pull test fixture. Details of experimental setup for coating two types of bellows and a full-scale magnet tube sandwiched between them will be presented.
