Thermal and mechanical properties of advanced impregnation materials for HTS cables and coils

In the growing field of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) applications, finding an appropriate impregnation material for cables and coils remains a challenging task. In HTS cables and coils, tapes have to be able to withstand mechanical loads during operation. Impregnation is playing a role as mechanical stabilization. However, material properties usually change significantly when going to low temperatures which can decrease performance of superconducting devices. For example, a large mismatch in thermal expansion between a conductor and impregnation material at low temperatures can lead to delamination and to degradation of the critical current. Impregnation materials can insulate tapes thermally which can lead to damage of the superconducting device in case of quench. Thus, thermal conductivity is an important property which is responsible for the temperature distribution in a superconducting cable or in a coil. Due to Lorentz forces acting on structural materials in a superconducting device, the mechanical properties of these materials should be investigated at operating temperatures of this device. Therefore, it is important to identify an advanced impregnation material meeting all specific requirements. In this paper, thermal and mechanical properties of impregnation material candidates with added fillers are presented in a temperature range from 300 K to 4 K.