Neutron irradiation effects on superconducting wires and insulating materials

On the progress of the Deuterium–Deuterium (D–D) or Deuterium–Tritium (D–T) burning plasma devices, the importance of neutron irradiation on superconducting magnet materials increases and the data base is desired to design the next generation devices. To carry out the investigations on the effect of neutron irradiation, neutron irradiation fields are required together with post-irradiation test facilities. In these several years, a collaboration network of neutron irradiation effect on superconducting magnet materials has been constructed. 14 MeV neutron irradiation was carried out at Fusion Neutronics Sources (FNS) in Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and fission neutron irradiation was performed at JRR-3 in JAEA. After the irradiation, the Nb₃Sn, NbTi and Nb₃Al samples were sent to High Field Laboratory for Superconducting Materials (HFLSM) in Tohoku University and the superconducting properties were evaluated with 28 T hybrid magnet. Also, the organic insulation materials are considered to be weaker than superconducting materials against neutron irradiation and cyanate ester resin composite was fabricated and tested at the fission reactor. One clear result on Nb₃Sn was the property change of Nb₃Sn by 14 MeV neutron irradiation over 13 T. The critical current was increased by 1.4 times around 13 T but the increment of the critical current became almost zero at higher magnetic fields and the critical magnetic field of the irradiated sample showed almost the same as non-irradiated one.