The mechanism of frictional motion and its effects at 4.2 K in superconducting magnet winding models

Frictional sliding occurs on both a microscopic and a macroscopic scale. Sliding on a microscopic scale appears as discrete events called microslips. Microslips are inherent in all sliding events and are quite different from macroscopic instabilities such as stick-slips. It is thought that the training effect observed in quench current data from a superconducting braid may be caused by microslips.The mechanisms of sliding motion and its effects at 4.2 K were studied in detail for a number of metal/insulator pairs that model superconducting magnet windings; the results impact the performance of superconducting magnets. Organic surface coating materials are generally effective in eliminating macroscopic instabilities. Instrumentation used in these experiments includes a high-resolution extensometer and an acoustic emission sensor, both with sensitivities capable of detecting microslips (～ 1 μm).