Procedures for evaluating filament cracking during fatigue testing of Nb3Sn strand

Abstract

In Tokamak fusion reactors, such as ITER, superconducting strands are subjected to repeated Lorentz force loading and unloading which may degrade performance over time. The Cu matrix which surrounds the brittle Nb3Sn filaments allows the possibility of some elastic-plastic deformation that can initiate filament cracking. We seek to understand if there are strand design variables that might ameliorate such degradation but before being able to do such experiments, we need to establish procedures that can unambiguously detect the cracking caused by loading, rather than by subsequent metallographic examination. Here we make a first report of our procedures after fatigue testing at 77K. Filament crack densities were quantified from large montages covering ≈20 mm length of strand. Three types of cracks were present. The most common were cracks transverse to the filament axis adjacent to voids. Cracks away from voids were of low density until close to the fracture strain. A third kind of crack which generally initiates at unreacted Nb cores of filaments extends radially and in the plane parallel to the wire axis. Example results on one bronze strand fatigued for 1000 loading cycles at axial strains from 0.4% to 1.14% are shown.