Test Results of a Nb<sub>3</sub>Al/Nb<sub>3</sub>Sn Subscale Magnet for Accelerator Application

Abstract

The High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) has been developing a Nb3Al and Nb3Sn subscale magnet to establish the technology for a high-field accelerator magnet. The development goals are a feasibility demonstration for a Nb3Al cable and the technology acquisition of magnet fabrication with Nb3Al superconductors. KEK developed two double-pancake racetrack coils with Rutherford-type cables composed of 28 Nb3Al wires processed by rapid heating, quenching, and transformation in collaboration with the National Institute for Materials Science and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The magnet was fabricated to efficiently generate a high magnetic field in a minimum-gap common-coil configuration with two Nb3Al coils sandwiched between two Nb3Sn coils produced by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. A shell-based structure and a “bladder and key” technique have been used for adjusting coil prestress during both the magnet assembly and the cool down. In the first excitation test of the magnet at 4.5 K performed in June 2014, the highest quench current of the Nb3Sn coil, i.e., 9667 A, was reached at 40 A/s corresponding to 9.0 T in the Nb3Sn coil and 8.2 T in the Nb3Al coil. The quench characteristics of the magnet were studied.