R&D activities on ceramic insulators

This technical note describes the R&D work performe d in support of the design of the alumina insulator s for the MITICA Neutral Beam Injector. The ceramic insul ators are critical elements, both from the structur al and electrical point of view, of the 1 MV electrostatic accelerator of the MITICA injector, as they are re quired to sustain both the mechanical loads due to the cantil evered weight of the ion source and the high electr ic field between the accelerator grids. This note presents the results of numerical simulat ions and experimental tests on prototypes that have been carried out to validate the insulator design under realistic operating conditions.