Low-Temperature Seals for Plastic Windows

Abstract

A double seal has been developed to seal the Plexiglas lens window to the stainless steel body of the 10-in. superconducting magnet bubble chamber shown in Fig. 1. A plastic window material, rather than glass, was selected for three reasons. First, the plastic material can more conveniently be fabricated into the unusual shape required by the geometry of the chamber. Second, the lens window is part of the moving assembly of the expansion system, so that light weight is desirable. Third, a plastic window should have greater resistance per unit mass to shock loads than glass. Accelerations of 50–100 g are expected, since the chamber is expanded and recompressed in about 10 msec.