The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) Superconducting Magnet Group has completed the design, fabrication and test of HD1, a 16 T block-coil dipole magnet. State of the art Nb 3 Sn conductor was wound in double-layer racetrack coils and supported by an iron yoke and a tensioned aluminum shell. In order to prevent conductor movement under magnetic forces up to the design field, a coil pre-stress of 150 MPa was required. To achieve this level without damaging the brittle conductor, the target stress was generated during cool-down to 4.2 K by exploiting the thermal contraction differentials between yoke and shell. Accurate control of the shell tension during assembly was obtained using pressurized bladders and interference load keys. An integrated 3D CAD model was used to optimize magnetic and mechanical design and analysis.Index Terms-Nb 3 Sn, superconducting accelerator magnet.
The Superconducting Magnet Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been developing the technology for using brittle superconductor in high-field accelerator magnets. HD1, the latest in a series of magnets, contains two, double-layer Nb 3 Sn flat racetrack coils. This single-bore dipole configuration, using the highest performance conductor available, was designed and assembled for a 16 tesla conductor/structure/pre-stress proof-of-principle. With the combination of brittle conductor and high Lorentz stress, considerable care was taken to predict the magnet's mechanical responses to pre-stress, cool-down, and excitation. Subsequent cold testing satisfied expectations: Training started at 13.6 T, 83% of "short-sample", achieved 90% in 10 quenches, and reached its peak bore field (16 T) after 19 quenches. The average plateau, 92% of "short-sample", appeared to be limited by "stick-slip" conductor motions, consistent with the 16.2 T conductor "lift-off" pre-stress that was chosen for this first test.Some lessons learned and some implications for future conductor and magnet technology development are presented and discussed.
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