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Airix is a linear accelerator producing a 60ns, 2kA, 19MeV electron beam. It has been operated in a single shot mode by the “Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives” (CEA) for flash X-ray radiography purposes for 10 years. Its modular architecture increases the beam energy by quarter of a megavolt step: each cell delivers a 75ns impulsion of 250kV amplitude. Our aim is to guarantee a minimum lifetime for the cells and their pulse driver. To achieve it, we are operating a test-bed at a moderately low repetition rate (a couple of pulses per minute) for tens of thousands of pulses. Afterwards, we will run a series of both non-destructive and destructive analysis to identify the most stressed parts, and, if necessary, the means of increasing the cell lifetime. This paper describes the test-bed: a pair of cells and its driver, and the first results of these ageing tests.
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