  The thermal diffusion properties of several different kinds of YBCO
insulations and the quench properties of pancake coils made using these
insulations were studied. Insulations investigated include Nomex, Kapton, and
Mylar, as well as insulations based on ZnO, Zn2GeO4, and ZnO-Cu. Initially,
short stacks of YBCO conductors with interlayer insulation, epoxy, and a
central heater strip were made and later measured for thermal conductivity in
liquid nitrogen. Subsequently, three different pancake coils were made. The
first two were smaller, each using one meter total of YBCO tape present as four
turns around a G-10 former. One of these smaller coils used Mylar insulation
co-wound with the YBCO tape, the other used YBCO tape onto which ZnO based
insulation had been deposited. One larger coil was made which used 12 total
meters of ZnO-insulated tape and had 45 turns. The results for all short sample
and coil thermal conductivities were ~1-3 Wm-1K-1. Finally, quench propagation
velocity measurements were performed on the coils (77 K, self field) by
applying a DC current and then using a heater pulse to initiate a quench.
Normal zone propagation velocity (NZP) values were obtained for the coils both
in the radial direction and in the azimuthal direction. Radial NZP values
(0.05-0.7 mm/s) were two orders of magnitude lower than axial values (~14-17
mm/s). Nevertheless, the quenches were generally seen to propagate radially
within the coils, in the sense that any given layer in the coil is driven
normal by the layer underneath it.
