The insulation irradiation test program for the Compact Ignition Tokamak

The electrical insulation for the toroidal field coils of the Compact Ignition Tokamak (CIT) is expected to be exposed to radiation doses on the order of 1010 rad with ∼90% of the dose from neutrons. The coils are cooled to liquid nitrogen temperature and then heated during the pulse to a peak temperature >300 K. In a program to evaluate the effects of radiation exposure on the insulators, three types of boron-free insulation were irradiated at room temperature in the Advanced Technology Reactor (ATR) and tested at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The materials were Spaulrad-S, Shikishima PG5-1, and Shikishima PG3-1. The first two use a bismaleimide resin and the third an aromatic amine hardened epoxy. Spaulrad-S is a two-dimensional (2-D) weave of S-glass, while the others are 3-D weaves of T-glass. Flexure and shear/compression samples were irradiated to approximately 5 x 109 rad and 3 x 1010 rad with 35 to 40% of the total dose from neutrons. The shear/compression samples were tested in pairs by applying an average compression of 345 MPa and then a shear load. After static tests were completed, fatigue testing was done by cycling the shear load for up to 30,000 cycles with a constant compression. The static shear strength of the samples that did not fail was then determined. Generally, shear strengths on the order of 120 MPa were measured. The behavior of the flexure and shear/compression samples was significantly different; large reductions in the flexure strength were observed, while the shear strength stayed the same or increased slightly. The 3-D weave material demonstrated higher strength and significantly less radiation damage than the 2-D material in flexure but performed nearly identically when tested with combined shear and compression. The epoxy system was much more sensitive to fatigue damage than the bismaleimide materials. 9 refs., 5 figs