Electromagnetic and mechanical characterisation of ITER CS-MC conductors affected by transverse cyclic loading. III. Mechanical properties

The magnetic field and current of a coil wound with a cable-in-conduit conductor causes a transverse force pushing the cable to one side of the conduit. This load causes elastic and plastic deformation with friction as well as heating due to friction. A special cryogenic press has been built to study the mechanical and electrical properties of full-size ITER conductors under transverse mechanical loading. The cryogenic press can transmit at 4.2 K cyclic forces of 650 kN/m to conductor sections of 400 mm length representative of the peak load on a 50 kA conductor at 13 T. In order to transmit the force directly onto the cable, the conduit is opened partly to allow the cable deformation. The force acting on the cable as well as the displacement are monitored simultaneously in order to determine the mechanical heat generation due to friction. The mechanical loss under load is investigated for the Nb/sub 3/Sn, 45 kA, 10 and 13 T, central solenoid model cell conductors (CSMC). The mechanical heat generation is determined from the hysteresis in the measured curves of displacement versus applied force. The first results of the effect of some 40 loading cycles are presented and the two conductors are compared. A significant decrease of the cable mechanical heat generation after loading cycles is observed.