Neutron testing of the Japanese-made superconducting cable for the Central Solenoid magnetic system for U.S. ITER has been done at the Spallation Neturon Source's VULCAN Engineering Materials Diffractometer. The 3-meter cable, mounted in a specially designed cryostat, can be cooled down to minus-193.5 degrees Celsius. The mapping experiment was performed at room temperature and cryogenic conditions. Past conductor performance tests have shown the cable degrades under cyclic power loading conditions. VULCAN can measure the strain on the superconducting niobium tin (Nb3Sn) phase, inside the metal jacket that encloses the cable. It is the only neutron scattering instrument capable of combining temperature, magnetic fields and sample size with rapid data accumulation - Agatha Bardoel, 865.574.0644, March 01, 2012
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