In-vacuum temperature measurement of nioboium components using infrared pyrometry during electron beam welding procedure

Electron beam welding (EBW) is widely used in the construction of Niobium Superconducting RF cavities. The welding sequence of such a complex structure, foresees many welding operations. The welding parameters depend on many variables as the material thickness, but also on the component temperature before each weld. This paper presents a technique to measure the temperature of Nb components in vacuum during the EBW operation using an IR pyrometer placed outside the vacuum chamber through an appropriate vacuum viewport. With the current configuration the system can measure temperatures up to 350 °C in the vacuum conditions of the EBW vacuum chamber (10-5-10-6 mbar). The technique was used to optimize the time interval between each subsequent equatorial weld during Nb cavities production at Ettore Zanon, increasing the welding procedure reliability and decreasing the waiting time by control of the temperatures in the weld region. Moreover this technique can be generally used for in vacuum measurements of components from room temperature up to about 350 °C. Future developments are under way to make this technique compatible with UHV and increasing the measurement range.