Manufacturing of the ITER TF Conductors in China

The toroidal field (TF) coil conductor is a cable-in-conduit conductor made up of superconducting, Nb₃Sn-based strands mixed with pure copper strands. The strands are assembled in a multistage cable around an open central spiral. The cable and its spiral are inserted into a stainless steel jacket. The jacket provides the helium confinement and must conform to the leak tightness standard defined herein. A technological complex has been developed at the Institute of Plasma Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences for serial production of ITER TF conductors is described. This technology was developed as a result of performing some R&D programs on selecting cabling parameters, welding technology, elaboration of cable insertion, compaction, and winding process. One qualification dummy TF conductor (760 m) and superconducting conductor (110 m) were successfully made. A new manufacturing complex was developed within the Institute of Plasma Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences for realization of this technology. The details of manufacturing procedures are described in this paper. It consists of a cabling workshop, and jacketing line equipped with full production machinery and test devices.