Manufacture of 16,000 amp superconducting conductor for the tokamak toroidal field coil program

Intermagnetics General Corporation recently completed a 3-year contract to manufacture 7,340 meters of superconducting conductor to be used in the General Electric Large Coil, one of six superconducting toroidal field test coils for experiments to support magnetic fusion research which will be performed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This paper describes the special manufacturing techniques developed to form the superconducting wire into a square cross section, tin it with solder, and then solder it into the 'U'-shaped copper stabilizer. The soldering equipment and techniques developed to bond the subelement to the core are also discussed.