Investigation on the fabrication of the 3rd harmonic superconducting cavity for the SSRF storage ring

A third harmonic superconducting niobium cavity has been proposed for installation in the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) storage ring to improve the Touschek lifetime. In order to investigate the feasibility of the superconducting cavity fabrication indigenously and the possibility to master the fabrication techniques, cavities were fabricated from copper and niobium sheets by deep drawing and electron-beam welding, and a series of measurements, such as resonant frequency, shape dimensions and wall thickness, were carried out during this process. After analysis of various problems existing in the fabrication process, technique improvements were proposed, and finally the precise shape as designed and resonant frequency within 1.2 MHz were achieved for the new completed cavities. In addition, full annealing was finally proved to be a good cure for niobium sheets' tearing up during deep drawing. By fabricating niobium cavities successfully, some problems to the next step were cleared. This paper introduces the process of cavity fabrication and its technique improvements towards forming, and the initial vertical test result of niobium cavity is also presented.