Smooth Nb surfaces fabricated by buffered electropolishing

Andy T. Wu; John Mammosser; Larry Phillips; Jean Delayen; Charles Reece; Amy Wilkerson; David Smith; Robert Ike

doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2006.06.060

Smooth Nb surfaces fabricated by buffered electropolishing

Andy T. Wu, John Mammosser, Larry Phillips, Jean Delayen, Charles Reece, Amy Wilkerson, David Smith, Robert Ike

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

It was demonstrated that smooth Nb surfaces could be obtained through buffered electropolishing (BEP) employing an electrolyte consisting of lactic, sulfuric, and hydrofluoric acids. Parameters that control the polishing process were optimized to achieve a smooth surface finish. The polishing rate of BEP was determined to be 0.646 μm/min which was much higher than 0.381 μm/min achieved by the conventional electropolishing (EP) process widely used in the superconducting radio frequency (SRF) community. Root mean square measurements using a 3D profilometer revealed that Nb surfaces treated by BEP were an order of magnitude smoother than those treated by the optimized EP process. The chemical composition of the Nb surfaces after BEP was analyzed by static and dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) systems. SIMS results implied that the surface oxide structure of Nb might be more complicated than what usually believed and could be inhomogeneous. Preliminary results of BEP on Nb SRF single cell cavities and half-cells were reported. It was shown that smooth and bright surfaces could be obtained in 1800 s when the electric field inside a SRF cavity was uniform during a BEP process. This study showed that BEP is a promising technique for surface treatment on Nb SRF cavities to be used in particle accelerators.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	3041-3052
Number of pages	12
Journal	Applied Surface Science
Volume	253
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2006.06.060
State	Published - Jan 15 2007
Externally published	Yes

Funding

Authored by The Southeastern Universities Research Association, Inc. under U.S. DOE Contract No. DE-AC05-84150. The U.S. Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce this manuscript for U.S. Government purposes.

Funders	Funder number
Southeastern Universities Research Association, Inc.
U.S. Department of Energy	DE-AC05-84150

Keywords

Electropolishing
Niobium
Particle accelerator
Superconducting radio frequency cavity
Surface property
Surface treatment

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10.1016/j.apsusc.2006.06.060

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title = "Smooth Nb surfaces fabricated by buffered electropolishing",

abstract = "It was demonstrated that smooth Nb surfaces could be obtained through buffered electropolishing (BEP) employing an electrolyte consisting of lactic, sulfuric, and hydrofluoric acids. Parameters that control the polishing process were optimized to achieve a smooth surface finish. The polishing rate of BEP was determined to be 0.646 μm/min which was much higher than 0.381 μm/min achieved by the conventional electropolishing (EP) process widely used in the superconducting radio frequency (SRF) community. Root mean square measurements using a 3D profilometer revealed that Nb surfaces treated by BEP were an order of magnitude smoother than those treated by the optimized EP process. The chemical composition of the Nb surfaces after BEP was analyzed by static and dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) systems. SIMS results implied that the surface oxide structure of Nb might be more complicated than what usually believed and could be inhomogeneous. Preliminary results of BEP on Nb SRF single cell cavities and half-cells were reported. It was shown that smooth and bright surfaces could be obtained in 1800 s when the electric field inside a SRF cavity was uniform during a BEP process. This study showed that BEP is a promising technique for surface treatment on Nb SRF cavities to be used in particle accelerators.",

keywords = "Electropolishing, Niobium, Particle accelerator, Superconducting radio frequency cavity, Surface property, Surface treatment",

author = "Wu, {Andy T.} and John Mammosser and Larry Phillips and Jean Delayen and Charles Reece and Amy Wilkerson and David Smith and Robert Ike",

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T1 - Smooth Nb surfaces fabricated by buffered electropolishing

AU - Wu, Andy T.

AU - Mammosser, John

AU - Phillips, Larry

AU - Delayen, Jean

AU - Reece, Charles

AU - Wilkerson, Amy

AU - Smith, David

AU - Ike, Robert

PY - 2007/1/15

Y1 - 2007/1/15

N2 - It was demonstrated that smooth Nb surfaces could be obtained through buffered electropolishing (BEP) employing an electrolyte consisting of lactic, sulfuric, and hydrofluoric acids. Parameters that control the polishing process were optimized to achieve a smooth surface finish. The polishing rate of BEP was determined to be 0.646 μm/min which was much higher than 0.381 μm/min achieved by the conventional electropolishing (EP) process widely used in the superconducting radio frequency (SRF) community. Root mean square measurements using a 3D profilometer revealed that Nb surfaces treated by BEP were an order of magnitude smoother than those treated by the optimized EP process. The chemical composition of the Nb surfaces after BEP was analyzed by static and dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) systems. SIMS results implied that the surface oxide structure of Nb might be more complicated than what usually believed and could be inhomogeneous. Preliminary results of BEP on Nb SRF single cell cavities and half-cells were reported. It was shown that smooth and bright surfaces could be obtained in 1800 s when the electric field inside a SRF cavity was uniform during a BEP process. This study showed that BEP is a promising technique for surface treatment on Nb SRF cavities to be used in particle accelerators.

AB - It was demonstrated that smooth Nb surfaces could be obtained through buffered electropolishing (BEP) employing an electrolyte consisting of lactic, sulfuric, and hydrofluoric acids. Parameters that control the polishing process were optimized to achieve a smooth surface finish. The polishing rate of BEP was determined to be 0.646 μm/min which was much higher than 0.381 μm/min achieved by the conventional electropolishing (EP) process widely used in the superconducting radio frequency (SRF) community. Root mean square measurements using a 3D profilometer revealed that Nb surfaces treated by BEP were an order of magnitude smoother than those treated by the optimized EP process. The chemical composition of the Nb surfaces after BEP was analyzed by static and dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) systems. SIMS results implied that the surface oxide structure of Nb might be more complicated than what usually believed and could be inhomogeneous. Preliminary results of BEP on Nb SRF single cell cavities and half-cells were reported. It was shown that smooth and bright surfaces could be obtained in 1800 s when the electric field inside a SRF cavity was uniform during a BEP process. This study showed that BEP is a promising technique for surface treatment on Nb SRF cavities to be used in particle accelerators.

KW - Electropolishing

KW - Niobium

KW - Particle accelerator

KW - Superconducting radio frequency cavity

KW - Surface property

KW - Surface treatment

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Smooth Nb surfaces fabricated by buffered electropolishing

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