Operation and Test Results From the SULTAN Test Facility

In the period between August 2010 and August 2011 the SULTAN test facility has been continuously operated, with over one dozen test campaigns. Among the ITER conductors, five Toroidal Field (TF) samples, two Central Solenoid (CS) samples and four NbTi samples for Poloidal Field (PF), Correction Coil and Main Busbar coming from Japan, Russia, Korea and China have been tested with duration of test campaign ranging from two to nine weeks each. Two non-ITER conductor samples are also tested in the same period, a high current NbTi cable-in-conduit (CICC) for the secondary winding of the EDIPO flux pump and a prototype high field conductor for the hybrid magnet of the Radboud University (NL). The possibility to apply “off-SULTAN” thermal cycles from room temperature to liquid nitrogen has been realized for two samples. A novel method for in-situ measurement of the critical temperature in CICC has been successfully applied in SULTAN, opening the possibility to experimentally assess the thermal strain of the filaments at various stages of the test campaign, i.e. as a function of the load cycles and degradation. Residual strain measurements on the steel jacket of the TF conductors have been carried out at RT and 77 K.