MAGNET COIL ELECTRICAL GASKETS OF HIGH COMPLIANCE AND AMPACITY

Coils employed in the magnets of the PHENIX Detector, presently under construction for RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider) at the Brookha ven National Laboratory, are massive (weight similar to 8000 kG each). For that reason we subdivided them into a series of manageable subcoi ls that we will subsequently bolt together. Electrical terminals attac hed to the subcoils conductors are rigidly embedded and precisely loca ted during vacuum impregnation. However; we anticipate some miss-align ment and nonuniform gaping to occur between terminals at assembly. We have elected to use electrical gaskets of high compliance and ampacity between the bolted terminals to enhance the current carrying capabili ty of the electrical joints. This paper describes the material candida tes selected, the tests performed, and the relative ranking of the mat erials tested.