Industry Days - Additive Manufacturing for RF/Microwave hardware

Additive Manufacturing for Particle Accelerator RF structures– An introduction to Metal Additive Manufacturing at CERN (CERN)

22 Nov 2016, 17:15

25m

NA052 -Erasmus Conference Room (ESA/ESTEC)

Speaker

Mr Romain Gerard (CERN)

Description

Accelerator components are traditionally fabricated using a wide range and combination of techniques: sheet metal forming, machining, vacuum brazing and welding. As an alternative to tackle ever-increasing performance, cost and lead time requirements of such structures, additive manufacturing (AM) has the potential to metamorphose the manufacturing approach, opening the door to functional design. However, currently the most popular AM materials are limited to steels, aluminium alloys, nickel alloys, and titanium alloys. RF components require the use of oxygen-free electrolytic (OFE) copper or pure niobium, neither of which is common within the AM industry. In this presentation, CERN and its accelerators will be briefly introduced. The relevance of AM for accelerator components is described together with the first AM RF components, in titanium alloy, and the first results of EBM in pure copper, both obtained in collaboration with Industry.

JUSTIFICATION FOR THE CONSIDERATION

CERN is a key-player in Additive Manufacturing of RF components. These AM4RF Industry Days would be a suitable place to exchange, together with ESA and industry on common interests and challenges, both in terms of process (size, shape accuracy, roughness), but also in terms of available materials. We would be delighted to be have the opportunity to introduce our research in Metal Additive Manufacturing.