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A two-turn D-shaped test coil with a height of 2.0 m and a width of 1.8 m is fabricated by a react-and-wind method by using a 20 kA Nb3Al cable-in-conduit (CIC) conductor. The total strain of the D-shaped test coil is about 0.57 percent, the same as the triplex-CIC sample fabricated by a W&R method, indicating that bending did not influence the I(sub c).

The optimization of the heat treatment of \Nb3\Sn conductors for toroidal field coils in ITER was attempted to improve the current sharing temperatures (Tcs). Using the strand, we chose the pattern at 570  ^\circ\C for 250 h and 650  ^\circ\C for 100 h as the best, which increased the critical current and maintained the residual resistivity ratio higher than 100. The behavior of the critical current of the strand vs. the magnetic field, temperature, and strain was also improved. This pattern was used on two conductors, and their performances were tested. Tcs was evaluated over 1000 electromagnetic cycles and one thermal cycle. A sharp Tcs degradation occurred at 50 cycles. Then Tcs decreased linearly. Although this tendency was similar to the conductors that were heat treated with the original pattern, the degradation rates were improved. The ac losses (Q) before cycling were approximately 10% lower than those of the original pattern. Q after cycling became almost equivalent between two patterns. The conductor was inspected after the test, which showed that the conductor under the high-magnetic-field zone had contracted by approximately 600 ppm during the test. Some clearly deformed strands were observed under the high-magnetic-field zone, which could degrade Tcs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The performance of four \Nb3\Sn conductors for the ITER central solenoids was tested. The current sharing temperatures (Tcs) were measured over approximately 9000 electromagnetic cycles, including two or three thermal cycles between 4.2 K and room temperature. Tcs increased and became almost constant through the cycling. The gradient of the electric field against the temperature gradually decreased against cycling. The degradations caused by the electromagnetic force of the short twist pitch conductors were smaller than that of the original twist pitch conductor. The ac losses of short twist pitch conductors were several times higher than that of original twist pitch conductor. The dents and the removals of the Cr plating on the strands, which were formed during cabling, decreased the electric resistance between strands, which may cause the observed high ac loss. Inspection of the cable showed neither a clear bias of cable in the cross-sectional surface nor distorted strands in the lateral face. The high rigidity of the short twist pitch cable could prevent these plastic deformations, caused by the Lorentz force. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The differences in thermal contraction of the composite materials in a cable in conduit conductor (CICC) for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), in combination with electromagnetic charging, cause axial, transverse contact and bending strains in the Nb3Sn filaments. These local loads cause distributed strain alterations, reducing the superconducting transport properties. The sensitivity of ITER strands to different strain loads is experimentally explored with dedicated probes. The starting point of the characterization is measurement of the critical current under axial compressive and tensile strain, determining the strain sensitivity and the irreversibility limit corresponding to the initiation of cracks in the Nb3Sn filaments for axial strain. The influence of spatial periodic bending and contact load is evaluated by using a wavelength of 5 mm. The strand axial tensile stress-strain characteristic is measured for comparison of the axial stiffness of the strands. Cyclic loading is applied for transverse loads following the evolution of the critical current, n-value and deformation. This involves a component representing a permanent (plastic) change and as well as a factor revealing reversible (elastic) behavior as a function of the applied load. The experimental results enable discrimination in performance reduction per specific load type and per strand type, which is in general different for each manufacturer involved. Metallographic filament fracture studies are compared to electromagnetic and mechanical load test results. A detailed multifilament strand model is applied to analyze the quantitative impact of strain sensitivity, intrastrand resistances and filament crack density on the performance reduction of strands and full-size ITER CICCs. Although a full-size conductor test is used for qualification of a strand manufacturer, the results presented here are part of the ITER strand verification program. In this paper, we present an overview of the results and comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performances of six Nb3Sn conductors for the ITER Toroidal Field coils were tested. Four of them showed similar degradation rates of their current sharing temperatures Tcs over 1,000 electromagnetic cycles. By contrast, two of them showed sharp Tcs degradations at 50 cycles, after which their slopes became similar to those of the other four conductors. These two cables seemed to shrink under high magnetic fields during the first 50 cycles, which caused the sharp Tcs degradation. This shrinkage might arise from a decline in cable rigidity due to, for example, the deformation of strands or the breakage of the Nb3Sn filaments. The four mass-produced conductors had roughly the same AC loss before cycling. After 1,000 cycles, the AC losses of all the conductors decreased markedly to less than half of those before cycling, and the values became approximately the same. After the test campaign, the destructive inspection of two of the conductors made it clear that the conductor had shrunk by about 520 ppm under the high magnetic field during the test. It was also clarified that some strands were visibly deformed under the high magnetic field, whereas those under the low magnetic field did not look distorted. This plastic deformation of the strands could be one of the major reasons for the Tcs degradation with cyclic operation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) was the first to start the mass production of the TF conductors (jacketing) in March 2010 among the 6 parties who are procuring TF conductors in the ITER project. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A benchmarking experiment was conducted to compare strain measurement facilities at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Twente. The critical current of a bronze-route Nb3Sn wire, which was fabricated for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), was measured as a function of axial strain and magnetic field in liquid helium at both institutes. NIST used a Walters' spring strain device and University of Twente used a bending beam (“Pacman”) apparatus. The ITER bronze-route wire investigated had a very high irreversible strain limit that allowed comparing data over a wide range of applied strain between -1% and +1%. Similarities of the data obtained by use of the two apparatuses were remarkable, despite the many differences in their design and techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using a 20 kA Nb3 Al cable-in-conduit (CIC) conductor, a two-turn fl-shaped test coil with a height of 2.0 m and a width of 1.8 m was fabricated by a react-and-wind (R&W) method. After heat treatment, the conductor was formed to the fl-shaped coil. Bending strain of the conductor is ±0.4% at critical current (Ic) test section. The Ic exceeded 31.4 kA at 7.3 T, 4.2 K. In spite of the stainless steel conduit, a critical current density (Jc) of 89% of the strand value was attained. The total strain of the fl-shaped test coil was about -0.57%, the same as the triplex-CIC sample fabricated by a W&R method, indicating that bending did not influence the 4. The 4 at 7.4 T, 5.6 K including the margin of 1 K exceeds the operational current Therefore, it was concluded that the R&W method is quite appropriate for the toroidal field coil of JT-60SC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the ITER model coil tests, degradations of the critical current were observed in Nb3Sn cable-in-conduit conductors when a large transverse electromagnetic force was applied to them. Both mass production technique of strand having high critical current enough to recover the degradation and also trial fabrication of the ITER-TF cable and conduit section were successfully performed. These results demonstrate feasibility of fabrication of the TF conductor using the high performance Nb3Sn strands. In addition, critical current degradation by spatially periodic transverse load was both experimentally and numerically studied. The simulation results show that the transverse resistance among the filaments is significantly small compared to that calculated from bronze resistivity. It is explained by the effect of superconducting current across the filament cross-section. This current however disappears when a large bending strain is applied to the strand, resulting in deterioration of the transverse resistance. It suggests that small degradation of the TF model coil (TFMC) conductor is not attributed to sufficiently low resistance among filaments as is expected in the optimized design of the ITER conductor but high resistance of the TFMC strand critical current against the transverse load. On the other hand, the developed strand has almost the same resistance against the transverse load as the TFMC strand. Therefore, the small degradation of the TF conductor, i.e., stable operation of the TF conductor is preliminarily anticipated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]