Innovative insulation systems for superconducting fusion magnets

Glass fibre reinforced plastics (GFRPs) are usually employed as insulating materials for the superconducting coils of large fusion magnets, e.g. of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Both the radiation spectrum and the stresses at the magnet location significantly influence the mechanical behaviour of the magnet insulation and, therefore, impose high demands on the material performance. During the last few decades, advanced epoxy based GFRPs with improved mechanical properties and radiation hardness were introduced into fusion technology. More recently, cyanate ester (CE) matrix systems have become of special interest. In this paper, various magnet insulation systems containing boron-free R-glass fibre reinforcements in commercial and new epoxies as well as in pure CE and CE/epoxy blended matrix systems are presented. All systems were irradiated in a fission reactor at ambient temperature (∼340 K) to a fast neutron fluence of 1 x 1022 m-2 (E>0.1 MeV). The mechanical properties were assessed at 77 K in tension as well as in interlaminar shear prior to and after irradiation under static and dynamic conditions