Accurate 3D modeling of Cable in Conduit Conductor type superconductors by X-ray microtomography

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Quality controls monitoring of Cable in Conduit Conductor (CICC) by X-ray tomography. • High resolution (≈40 μm) X-ray tomography images of CICC section up to 300 mm long. • Assignment of vast majority of strand trajectories over relevant section of CICC. • Non-invasive accurate measurements of local void fraction statistics. - Abstract: Operation and data acquisition of an X-ray microtomography developed at INFLPR are optimized to produce stacks of 2-D high-resolution tomographic sections of Cable in Conduit Conductor (CICC) type superconductors demanded in major fusion projects. High-resolution images for CCIC samples (486 NbTi&Cu strands of 0.81 mm diameter, jacketed in rectangular stainless steel pipes of 22 × 26 mm²) are obtained by a combination of high energy/intensity and small focus spot X-ray source and high resolution/efficiency detector array. The stack of reconstructed slices is then used for quantitative analysis consisting of accurate strand positioning, determination of the local and global void fraction and 3D strand trajectory assignment for relevant fragments of cable (∼300 mm). The strand positioning algorithm is based on the application of Gabor Annular filtering followed by local maxima detection. The local void fraction is extensively mapped by employing local segmentation methods at a space resolution of about 50 sub-cells sized to be relevant to the triplet of triplet twisting pattern. For the strand trajectory assignment part we developed a global algorithm of the linear programing type which provides the vast majority of correct strand trajectories for most practical applications. For carefully manufactured benchmark CCIC samples over 99% of the trajectories are correctly assigned. For production samples the efficiency of the algorithm is around 90%. Trajectory assignment of a high proportion of the strands is a crucial factor for the derivation of statistical properties of the cable such as twisting pattern, cos(θ) or void fraction.