PF1 coil joint fatigue test results at LN2.

One of the main qualification tasks of poloidal field (PF) coil PF1 manufacturing is to ensure the designed mechanical strength of loaded critical structural elements in the required cryogenic temperature range. The PF1 coil is under manufacturing in Russian Federation, and it is one of six PF coils of the ITER electromagnetic system (EMS). The PF1 joint provides connection of niobium-titanium “cable-in-conduit” conductors (CICC), used for winding of PF1 coil, into a single electric circuit by ‘shaking hands’ configuration. This paper describes test procedure and test results of PF1 joint sample, which was tested in the special developed facility built based on the industrial testing machine Schenk. The main feature of facility is available cryostat for testing of large scale sample, like the PF1 joint sample, with the required cyclic tensile fatigue load at the liquid nitrogen temperature. One of the features of the testing sample is symmetrical design, which provides bending force compensation of default ‘shaking hands’ configuration. A special device converting a standard compression force of the testing machine to the tensile force affected at the test object is placed.. The additional control system provides the remote control of the test parameters and test data obtaining.