NEG coating of pipes for RHIC: An example of industrialization process

Non Evaporable Getter (NEG) coated chambers have been used in various accelerators facilities and synchrotrons for several years. Initially, NEG coated chambers were mounted in small amounts in specific locations, covering a minor fraction of the accelerator surfaces exposed to vacuum. More recently, NEG coated chambers have been adopted to a larger degree in several projects, contributing to a larger extent to the machine performance. LHC, whose commissioning is expected in 2007, will use 6 km of coated pipes, to be the largest machine ever using this technology. Other examples are the Soleil synchrotron (50 % of the ring is NEG coated), ESRF (ongoing replacement of ID with NEG coated chambers) and RHIC (ongoing installation in the machine warm section of 600 m of NEG coated pipes). Coating a large number of chambers poses challenges in term of process industrialization, product inspection and quality assurance. In the present paper we report SAES Getters´ experience in the NEG coating of the pipes delivered to Brookhaven National Lab for RHIC (120 steel chambers, each 5 m long). Main technological issues faced and procedures adopted to ensure product reproducibility and quality will be presented and discussed.