Gen Nishijima

Significantly enhanced critical current densities in MgB2 tapes made by a scaleable nanocarbon addition route

Nanocarbon-doped Fe-sheathed MgB2 tapes with different doping levels were prepared by the in situ powder-in-tube method. Compared to the undoped tapes, Jc for all the C-doped samples was enhanced by more than an order of magnitude in magnetic fields above 9T. At 4.2K, the transport Jc for the 5at.% doped tapes reached 1.85×104A∕cm2 at 10T and 2.8×103A∕cm2 at 14T, respectively. Moreover, the critical temperature for the doped tapes decreased slightly. Transmission electron microscopy showed a number of intragranular dislocations and the dispersed nanoparticles embedded within MgB2 grains induced by the C doping. The mechanism for the enhancement of flux pinning is also discussed. These results indicate that powder-in-tube-processed MgB2 tape is very promising for high-field applications.

Test of the ITER central solenoid model coil and CS insert

The Central Solenoid Model Coil (CSMC) was designed and built from 1993 to 1999 by an ITER collaboration between the U.S. and Japan, with contributions from the European Union and the Russian Federation. The main goal of the project was to establish the superconducting magnet technology necessary for a large-scale fusion experimental reactor. Three heavily instrumented insert coils were built to cover a wide operational space for testing. The CS Insert, built by Japan, was tested in April-August of 2000. The TF Insert, built by Russian Federation, will be tested in the fall of 2001. The NbAl Insert, built by Japan, will be tested in 2002. The testing takes place in the CSMC Test Facility at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Naka, Japan. The CSMC was charged successfully without training to its design current of 46 kA to produce 13 T in the magnet bore. The stored energy at 46 kA was 640 MJ. This paper presents the main results of the CSMC and the CS Insert testing-magnet critical parameters, ac losses, joint performance, quench characteristics and some results of the post-test analysis.

Progress of the ITER central solenoid model coil programme

The worlds largest pulsed superconducting coil was successfully tested by charging up to 13 T and 46 kA with a stored energy of 640 MJ. The ITER central solenoid (CS) model coil and CS insert coil were developed and fabricated through an international collaboration, and their cooldown and charging tests were successfully carried out by international test and operation teams. In pulsed charging tests, where the original goal was 0.4 T/s up to 13 T, the CS model coil and the CS insert coil achieved ramp rates to 13 T of 0.6 T/s and 1.2 T/s, respectively. In addition, the CS insert coil was charged and discharged 10 003 times in the 13 T background field of the CS model coil and no degradation of the operational temperature margin directly coming from this cyclic operation was observed. These test results fulfilled all the goals of CS model coil development by confirming the validity of the engineering design and demonstrating that the ITER coils can now be constructed with confidence.

Achievement of 1020 MHz NMR

We have successfully developed a 1020MHz (24.0T) NMR magnet, establishing the worlds highest magnetic field in high resolution NMR superconducting magnets. The magnet is a series connection of LTS (low-Tc superconductors NbTi and Nb3Sn) outer coils and an HTS (high-Tc superconductor, Bi-2223) innermost coil, being operated at superfluid liquid helium temperature such as around 1.8K and in a driven-mode by an external DC power supply. The drift of the magnetic field was initially ±0.8ppm/10h without the (2)H lock operation; it was then stabilized to be less than 1ppb/10h by using an NMR internal lock operation. The full-width at half maximum of a (1)H spectrum taken for 1% CHCl3 in acetone-d6 was as low as 0.7Hz (0.7ppb), which was sufficient for solution NMR. On the contrary, the temporal field stability under the external lock operation for solid-state NMR was 170ppb/10h, sufficient for NMR measurements for quadrupolar nuclei such as (17)O; a (17)O NMR measurement for labeled tri-peptide clearly demonstrated the effect of high magnetic field on solid-state NMR spectra.

ITER CS model coil and CS insert test results

The inner and outer modules of the central solenoid model coil (CSMC) were built by US and Japanese home teams in collaboration with European and Russian teams to demonstrate the feasibility of a superconducting central solenoid for ITER and other large tokamak reactors. The CSMC mass is about 120 t; OD is about 3.6 m and the stored energy is 640 MJ at 36 kA and peak field of 13 T. Testing of the CSMC and the CS insert took place at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) from mid March until mid August 2000. This paper presents the main results of the tests performed,.

First test results for the ITER central solenoid model coil

Abstract The largest pulsed superconducting coils ever built, the Central Solenoid (CS) Model Coil and Central Solenoid Insert Coil were successfully developed and tested by international collaboration under the R&D activity of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), demonstrating and validating the engineering design criteria of the ITER Central Solenoid coil. The typical achievement is to charge the coil up to the operation current of 46 kA, and the maximum magnetic field to 13 T with a swift rump rate of 0.6 T/s without quench. The typical stored energy of the coil reached during the tests was 640 MJ that is 21 times larger than any other superconducting pulsed coils ever built. The test have shown that the high current cable in conduit conductor technology is indeed applicable to the ITER coils and could accomplish all the requirements of current sharing temperature, AC losses, ramp rate limitation, quench behavior and 10 000-cycle operation.

Transport Characteristics of CVD-YBCO Coated Conductor under Hoop Stress

Transport characteristics of IBAD/ CVD-YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) coated conductor were measured at 4.2 K under hoop stress. The conductor was fabricated by a multi-stage metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The YBCO layer was deposited on Hastelloy substrate with PLD-Ce02 and IBAD-Gd2Zr207 buffer layers. A 20-mum silver layer was sputtered as a protective and stabilizing layer. The hoop stress test coils were fabricated by winding the conductor on a 250-mm diameter stainless-steel bobbin by five turns. Two coils, denoted as coils A and B, were fabricated. The Hastelloy substrate located outside for coil A and inside for coil B. Both coils were tested in magnetic field at 4.2 K under hoop stresses. Coil A and B experienced 1028 and 777 MPa at 11 T, 4.2 K. The measured stress-strain curves provided that the Youngs modulus of the conductor was 190 GPa. The tolerable stress of ~1000 MPa and the Youngs modulus of 190 GPa are consistent with the values obtained by a tensile test. The hoop stress test results indicates that the YBCO coated conductor is promising for application under huge hoop stress.

Room and low temperature direct three-dimensional-strain measurements by neutron diffraction on as-reacted and prebent CuNb∕Nb3Sn wire

We measured directly by neutron diffraction the axial and lateral residual strains for the prebent and the as-reacted CuNb∕Nb3Sn wires at room temperature and at 7K, in order to investigate the change of the residual strain with prebending treatment. In the axial direction of the wire, the residual strain was changed with 0.20% to the tensile side when measured at both temperatures, while in the lateral direction, the change was 0.08% and 0.03% to the compressive side for the measurements at RT and 7K, respectively. From the obtained data, we estimated the deviatoric strain. At 7K, the value is 0.40% for the as-reacted wires and it reduces to 0.19% when the prebending is applied with a strain epb=0.8%. These results suggest that the reduction of the residual strain in the axial direction as well as in the lateral direction, i.e., of the deviatoric strain is responsible for the observed enhancement in the superconducting properties of the prebent Nb3Sn wires. In addition, we succeeded in the quantitative e...

Completion of CS insert fabrication

The central solenoid (CS) model coil program is in progress with an international collaboration under the frame of the ITER-EDA. The purpose of the CS insert coil is to test the performance of the ITER-CS conductor. The CS insert coil is installed in the bore of the CS model coil and tested at a magnetic flux density of 13 T. The installation work is underway with the inner and outer module of the CS model coil. The superconducting characteristics of the CS conductor, the critical current and the current sharing temperature are evaluated under the operating load. The AC loss characteristics of the conductor are also evaluated under pulsed magnetic field. The fabrication of the CS insert coil was completed on May 1999. The winding tools and the results of the winding of CS insert coil are reported. The heat treatment for Nb/sub 3/Sn processing was performed successfully with no SAGBO (stress accelerated grain boundary oxidation). The procedure of the heat treatment is also reported.

Cryogen-free hybrid magnet for magnetic levitation

Abstract The development of a cryogen-free hybrid magnet with no use of liquid helium was intended. A cryogen-free hybrid magnet is composed of an outer conduction-cooled superconducting magnet using GM-cryocoolers and an inner water-cooled resistive magnet. As a first step, we constructed a cryogen-free NbTi superconducting magnet with a 360 mm room temperature bore, which generated 4.5 T at a magnet center. The thermal stability concept of the critical current margin is adopted for magnet design. A 20 T static magnetic field and a magnetic force field corresponding to 2030 T 2 /m by combining with the 15.5 T water-cooled magnet were obtained. A container-less melting experiment was carried out using a newly developed 20 T cryogen-free hybrid magnet. A great interest is focused on Marangoni convection in container-less melting. Thermocapillary convection known well as Marangoni is being investigated in the non-gravity state due to high magnetic fields, using the world’s first cryogen-free hybrid magnet.