Speaker
Description
The Future Circular Collider – electron-positron (FCC-ee) demands an ultra-high vacuum environment to reach its ambitious performance targets. At the heart of this vacuum system lies a deceptively simple yet critically important component: the bake-out system. Its role? To activate and regenerate the Non-Evaporable Getter (NEG) coating inside the vacuum chamber through a high temperature thermal cycle.
This presentation explores the bake-out system not merely as a heating mechanism, but as a complex, large-scale, multilayered coating architecture composed of metals and ceramics applied via thermal spray technologies—namely Atmospheric Plasma Spray (APS) and Cold Spray (CS). We will unpack the fundamental criteria for material selection in this highly demanding environment, emphasizing radiation hardness, mechanical resilience under thermal cycling, cost-efficiency and morphological influences on coating performance.
A key theme of the talk is materials selection—how do you find the right material to not only produce laboratory prototypes but also transition to kilometres of reliable, high-performance and affordable bake-out systems? Challenges such as thermal stress management between layers, adhesion durability, manufacturing sequence optimization, and system integration will be addressed through the lens of materials selection and optimisation. Finally, we’ll delve into how these materials and coatings are tested for real-world suitability in the FCC-ee context.
In addition to the bake-out system, the presentation will briefly highlight other additive manufacturing opportunities within the FCC-ee vacuum system. These include the development of the Synchrotron Radiation Absorber (SRA) using Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF), as well as the production of mounting sockets for Beam Position Monitors (BPM) via Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing.
These emerging techniques further illustrate how advanced manufacturing is shaping the future of accelerator infrastructure.
