Mechanical and electrical performance of glass fiber reinforced plastic insulation for cryogenic application in fusion magnet irradiated in fast breeder reactor

Abstract

In a superconducting (SC) magnet fusion reactor, the insulation material used has to withstand significant fluxes of neutrons and neutron-induced gamma radiation. Epoxy-based glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP) composites are the insulation system for fusion magnets and are highly demanding. This insulation system requires excellent mechanical and electrical performance under mixed neutron and gamma radiation at cryogenic temperatures. The insulation material developed consists of boron-free S-glass fiber impregnated with a two-component modified Diglycidyl ether of Bisphenol-A (DGEBA) epoxy resin. An anhydride-cured DGEBA resin system is not suitable for cryogenic temperatures. Therefore, to overcome this thermal stress issue in cryogenic components of SC magnets, a high-toughness, flexible, aromatic amine-cured epoxy resin system was developed for the insulation system. In order to assess the radiation resistance for mechanical and electrical properties, the composite samples were irradiated in the fast breeder test reactor (FBTR) at IGCAR, Kalpakkam, India. The irradiation experiment was carried out for a neutron fluence of 1.0E+21 n/m2 and a gamma dose of 0.4 MGy at a full reactor power of 32 MWt. The tensile strength, interlaminar shear strength, and breakdown strength measurements were investigated before and after irradiation at room temperature and 77 K. The test results indicate that no significant degradation was observed in the properties of the irradiated samples up to the above-mentioned radiation doses.