  Calorimetric measurements of AC loss and hence interstrand contact resistance
(ICR), were measured on three samples of Rutherford cable wound with
Cu-stabilized jelly-roll type unplated Nb3Al strand. One of the cable types was
furnished with a thin core of AISI 316L stainless steel and the other two were
both uncored but insulated in different ways. The cables were subjected to a
room-temperature-applied uniaxial pressure of 12 MPa that was maintained during
the reaction heat treatment (RHT), then vacuum impregnated with CTD 101 epoxy,
and repressurized to 100 MPa during AC-loss measurement. The measurements were
performed at 4.2 K in a sinusoidal field of amplitude 400 mT at frequencies of
1 to 90 mHz (no DC-bias field) that was applied both perpendicular and parallel
to the face of the cable (the face-on, FO, and edge-on, EO, directions,
respectively). For the cored cable the FO-measured effective ICR (FO-ICR), was
5.27 &#61549;&#61527;. Those for the uncored cables were less than 0.08
&#61549;&#61527;. As shown previously for NbTi- and Nb3Sn-based Rutherford
cables, the FO-ICR can be significantly increased by the insertion of a core,
although in this case it is still below the range recommended for
accelerator-magnet use. Post-measurement dissection of one of the cables showed
that the impregnating resin had permeated between the strands and coated the
core with a thin, insulating layer excepting for some sintered points of
contact. In the uncored cables the strands were coated with resin except for
the points of interstrand contact. It is suggested that in the latter case this
tendency for partial coating leads to a processing-sensitive FO-ICR.
