Measurements of Heat Release Associated With the Mechanical Transients in Superconducting Magnets

Abstract

Transient release of heat due to cracking, interfacial debonding and conductor motion can lead to premature quenching and training in high-field superconducting accelerator magnets. Understanding the physical mechanisms behind the heat release and quantifying it for various impregnation materials and mechanical stress conditions is essential for eliminating the quench training phenomenon in future magnets. We have developed a system to perform simultaneous cryogenic measurements of stress-induced acoustic emissions (AE) and local temperature variations for samples of copper wire embedded in commonly used magnet impregnation materials, and we present initial test results for the epoxy CTD-101 K. The samples, monitored simultaneously by a shear-piezo transducer and a miniature temperature sensor, were installed in a variable-temperature cryogenic probe while mechanical stress was gradually applied using an external driver. We have found coincident AE and temperature spikes corresponding to cracking/debonding and slip-stick motion. We have estimated the heat released during the debonding event and reported initial efforts towards AE/thermal energy correlation.