Technique for reduction of mechanical losses in AC superconducting coils due to thermal expansion properties of various FRP bobbins

We reported about reduction of mechanical losses in AC superconducting coils. The method is the use of FRP bobbins fabricated with special fibers. Since their FRPs have negative thermal expansion coefficient to the fiber direction, the FRP bobbins expand to the circumferential direction during cooling down. In case of the superconducting coils with such FRP bobbins, the winding tensions do not decrease during cooling down. Therefore, the mechanical losses are reduced by the suppression of wire's vibration. Their special FRPs are a Dyneema® fiber reinforced plastic (DFRP), a Dyneema and glass fiber reinforced plastic (DGFRP), and a Zylon® fiber reinforced plastic (ZFRP). These materials have negative thermal expansion coefficient to the fiber direction, however, the amplitudes of thermal expansion are various by the quantity or quality of the fiber. In this paper, the values of thermal expansion were actually measured, and it was discussed about the influence on the mechanical losses. At the experimental results, the mechanical loss was small, so that the thermal strain to the circumferential direction on the coil was large. Moreover, in case of the coils with sufficiently strong winding tensions at coil-operating temperature, the mechanical losses vanished.