Development of the Joints for ITER Central Solenoid

The ITER Central Solenoid has 36 interpancake joints and 12 bus joints in the magnet. The joints are required to have resistance below 4 nOhm at 45 kA at 4.5 K. The interpancake joints will have to withstand a significant cyclic tensile strain during ITER operation. The joints are located at the OD of the magnet embedded in the winding pack and therefore need to be compliant with the rest of the winding pack to avoid excessive stress. The US ITER Project Office is carrying out a program for joints development in order to establish fabrication process and also characterize electrical and mechanical performance of the joints in a special Joint Test Apparatus. Status of the joint development and test results are presented and discussed in the paper.