• Y. Suetsugu, M. Shirai
  KEK, Ibaraki
• M. Ohtsuka
  OHTSUKA, Tsukuba-shi

The MO (Matsumoto-Ohtsuka) -type flange is suitable for connection flanges of beam pipes for accelerators. The flange uses a metal gasket that exactly fits the aperture of the beam pipe, and has a small beam impedance. The flange can be applied to a complicated aperture. We developed a stainless-steel MO-type flange for a copper beam pipe with antechambers. Several beam pipes were installed in the KEKB B-factory positron ring and were tested using beams. No serious problem was observed up to a beam current of 1600 mA (~10 nC/bunch and ~6 ns bunch spacing). Based on experiences in the stain-less steel case, a possibility of employing copper-alloy and aluminum-alloy MO-type flange has been experimentally studied. They can mitigate the heating problems found in the case of stainless-steel flanges, and simplify the manufacturing procedure of beam pipes made of copper or aluminum alloy. Copper-alloy (CrZrCu) flanges show a comparable vacuum sealing property to the stainless-steel one, and several beam pipes with this flange has been successfully installed in the KEKB. The R&D on aluminum-alloy (A2219 and A2024) flanges has recently started, and a promising result was obtained.