Powering Performance and Endurance Beyond Design Limits of HL-LHC Low-Beta Quadrupole Model Magnets

For the High Luminosity Upgrade project (HL-LHC) of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), lower \beta* quadrupole magnets based on advanced Nb _\text{3} Sn conductors will be installed on each side of the ATLAS and CMS interaction points. To quantify the endurance and technological limits of these magnets, beyond their maximum operational conditions, two short length model magnets have been extensively tested at the CERN SM18 test facility. Both magnets were subjected to eight thermal cycles. One of them was trained beyond its ultimate current (17.89 kA, corresponding to 143 T/m field gradient and 12.2 T peak field), reaching a maximum of 19.57 kA at 1.9 K (corresponding to 155 T/m, 13.4 T peak field and 95.4% of the short sample limit) in a 150 mm diameter bore. This magnet currently has the record highest field gradient of this quadrupole magnet class. The second short model had zero re-training quenches up to nominal (16.47 kA) and ultimate current at 1.9 K during the thermal cycles; more than 1000 current cycles to nominal current; and provoked quenches to simulate the most severe failure scenarios of the protection system. After all these tests, both magnets continue to perform beyond requirements for operating current and temperature. In this paper, the tests performed on the two magnets are discussed.