Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS/IN2P3, IJCLab, Orsay, France
CEA-IRFU, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
FLUO, Orsay, France
Optimization of SRF cavities mainly focuses on pushing the limits of bulk Niobium, cost reduction of cavity fabrication and development of new SRF materials for future accelerators (ILC, FCC). Nowadays chemical etching is the only surface treatment used to prepare SRF surface made of Nb. However the operational cost of chemical facilities is high and these present a very bad ecological footprint. The search of an alternative technique could make the construction of these future large scale facilities possible. Metallographic polishing (MP) is a candidate not only for bulk Nb treatment, but could also provide the mirror-finished substrate for alternative SRF thin films deposition. Recent R&D studies, conducted at IPNO & IRFU, focused on the development of 2-steps MP procedure of Nb flat samples. Roughness of polished surface has been proven better than standard EP treatment and less polluted than CBP. MP provides on flat surfaces a high removal rate (above 1 µm/min) and high reproducibility. The paper will describe the optimized method and present all the surface analysis performed. The first RF characterization of a polished disk will be presented.
