Bond quality control of aluminium stabilised superconductors with ultrasonic phased-array technology

Novel aluminium stabilised superconductors are currently being produced for the Large Hadron Collider detectors ATLAS and CMS. For a satisfying service of the conductor an intact bonding between the different constituents must be guaranteed. We have shown previously that ultrasonics is a powerful tool for checking the bond quality. However, up to now the full width of the bond could be inspected only on short samples with a mechanical scanner. The essence of this presentation is the introduction of the phased-array technique which allows a continuous analysis of the complete bond over km-long conductor units during their manufacture. For now, more than 50 km of conductor have been tested during co-extrusion. Disbondings are detected as regions with enhanced echo-amplitudes. We are about to set-up a second system for the control of an electron beam welding process which is used for the reinforcement of the CMS conductor. (orig.)