Radiation effect on interlaminar shear strength of the electric insulation system with cyanate ester and epoxy blended resin

Abstract

A fusion reactor will generate a lot of fast neutrons which will activate the materials in the reactor. Since fusion neutrons will reach superconducting magnets and the activated materials will emit a gamma ray, the materials in the reactor will be exposed by the neutron and the gamma ray at the same time. The weakest material against radiation exposure is an organic material for an electric insulation. Cyanate ester resin has been proposed as a candidate material for the insulation system of ITER and it is clarified that the blended resin with epoxy has a potential to survive a design period in the radiation environment. In this study, a molecular structure analysis of the blended resin was carried out and heat flux measurements by differential scanning calorimetry and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) tests at 77 K were performed using irradiated samples with the gamma ray and neutrons. The results show that a triazine ring which has excellent resistance against radiation is formed during the curing process and the insulation composite material with 100% cyanate resin shows almost no degradation after irradiation of over 400 MGy.