Determination of the Feasible Gas Sealing Performance of the NSW Micromegas Quadruplets

Abstract

The New Small wheel Micromegas quadruplets for the LHC-ATLAS Upgrade of phase-I has been completed and already installed on the ATLAS detector. After their construction a quality assurance and checking were performed in the Lab BB5 at CERN. The Quadruplets must be sufficiently sealed in order to accomplish a stable operation and avoiding excessive gas mixture leakage. The theoretical prediction of the gas leak rate is the main the goal of this work and is based on the Contact Mechanics and Percolation Theories. The surface topography analysis and the rubber cord properties have been also taken into account. In this context, the experimental gas leak tightness test to a Micromegas prototype module is presented for obtaining a prior benchmark before the integration of the quadruplets.