Design of a new UHV all-metal joint for CLIC

All-metal joints are widely used in the vacuum systems of particle accelerators. The most common ConFlat® design consists of a flat soft copper gasket captured between two stainless steel flanges with sharp edges (knives). The gasket is plastically deformed and a high contact pressure develops around knives to obtain leak tightness. For large accelerators, a high reliability and a cost-optimized design are required. A smooth internal transition between flanges is needed for the RF waveguides of the compact linear collider (CLIC), with limited deformation of the inner part of the gasket. We present the study of a flange meeting these requirements. First the finite element analysis (FEA) of the Stanford linear accelerator center (SLAC) X-band all-metal joint, which has a similar specification, is shown. Some drawbacks, such as non-homogeneous sealing properties, are highlighted. Then, a new joint design is described. FEA results are presented and are compared with experimental measurements carried out on prototypes.