Titanium alloy as a potential low radioactivation vacuum material

Abstract

For the vacuum systems of high-intensity beam accelerators, low radioactivation materials with good vacuum characteristics and high mechanical strength are required. The titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V was investigated as a potential low activation vacuum material with high mechanical strength for the fabrication of vacuum components, particularly the flanges of beam pipes, in the J-PARC 3 GeV synchrotron. The dose rate of Ti-6Al-4V when irradiated by a 400 MeV proton was observed to decrease more rapidly than that of stainless steel. Furthermore, the generated radioactive isotopes were nuclides with relatively short half-lives. The outgassing rate per unit area of Ti-6Al-4V was approximately 10−8 Pa m3/s m2 after pumping for 100 h, which is the same as the typical value for stainless steel. Additionally, the hydrogen concentration in bulk Ti-6Al-4V was reduced to approximately 1 ppm by vacuum firing at 700 °C for 9 h; the mechanical strength was not reduced by this process. These results indicate that Ti-6Al-4V is a good candidate for use as a low activation vacuum material with high mechanical strength.