Topic Specific Collaborative Developments

Nb material development

The bulk niobium used in SRF cavities is produced by variable heavy industrial processes at several locations around the world. Both users and suppliers are interested in finding economical improvements that yield consistently high performance and well understood metallurgical properties.

• JLab staff are collaborating with industrial and international laboratory partners to develop new and convenient characterization techniques that provide useful feedback to niobium production techniques.


• Current inquiries are revisiting just what aspects of niobium material purity actually bear on SRF performance in application.

• Reference Metals Company (niobium supplier headquartered in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, U.S.)—Microstructure control of high-purity niobium (with the University of Virginia and Los Alamos National Laboratory)

• University of Virginia ( Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.)—Hydrogen in grain boundaries, SQUID microscope

• National Institute of Standards and Technology ( U.S. government agency)—Properties of niobium

• DESY (accelerator laboratory in Hamburg, Germany) —Cavity fabrication and testing, properties of niobium, processing techniques

• Los Alamos National Laboratory ( Los Alamos, New Mexico, U.S.; operated by the University of California)—High residual resistivity ratio (RRR) niobium microstructure