We have designed and built a passively shielded, cryogen-free 3 T 160 mm bore bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide HTS magnet with shielded gradient coils suitable for use in small animal imaging applications. The magnet is cooled to approximately 16 K using a two-stage cryocooler and is operated at 200 A. The magnet has been passively shimmed so as to achieve ±10 parts per million (ppm) homogeneity over a 60 mm diameter imaging volume. We have demonstrated that B0 temporal stability is fit-for-purpose despite the magnet operating in the driven mode. The system has produced good quality spin-echo and gradient echo images. This compact HTS-MRI system is emerging as a true alternative to conventional low temperature superconductor based cryogen-free MRI systems, with much more efficient cryogenics since it operates entirely from a single phase alternating current electrical supply.

Coated conductor Roebel cables are an effective way to create a high current density, fully transposed cable. However, despite REBCO tapes being robust against transverse stress, the Roebel architecture can concentrate transverse stress in non-trivial and random patterns depending on the exact arrangement of strands. If stands are embedded in a solid media which consolidates all strands then a transverse stress concentration will not occur. We tested this idea through mechanical and thermo-cycling tests on 5 strand Roebel cables. For non-impregnated cable irreversible degradation in critical currents is initiated at transverse pressures in a range of 4–34 MPa. Optical examination of the cables shows stress concentration patterns beyond those predicted by thickness variations. For cables impregnated with epoxy filled with SiO2 nanopowder, which has a similar thermal expansion coefficient to the metallic substrate of the strands, the irreversibility point is increased above our highest experimentally available pressure of 270 MPa. Thermo-cycling experiments confirmed a closely matched thermal expansion coefficient between the embedding media and metallic substrate is critical to avoid wire failures.

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