Here below the activities are described that were carried out in 2018 for the study, realisation and testing of new materials capable of significantly improving the performance of transmission grid components and devices.

The document includes an introductory chapter reporting the main national and international research programmes and the main objectives of the three-year project, followed by chapters describing the activities carried out in the two lines of the project. The report includes the main results, goals and motivations of the research, as well as the stages of its development and a brief summary of the activities carried out in the previous Annual Implementation Plan. This is followed by a brief description of the activities carried out in research and standardization working groups at the national and international levels.

After that is a description of the specific work carried out in the 2018 Annual Implementation Plan, which referred to the following activities:

• Continuation of the characterisations of composite core conductors (in support of the Best Paths project), with final revision of protocols and the performance of the in-field installation test at the Bertignano test field (by Terna).
• Experimentation with diagnostic techniques on insulators taken from operating lines in order to check for the detectability of different possible types of material defects.
• Enhancement of Vinadio WILD station to increase icephobic conductor testing capacity in preparation for the winter 2018-2019 measurement campaign.
• Study and improvement of processes for making and applying treatments with a focus on industrially feasible processes. Activities carried out in collaboration with TERNA and conductor manufacturers.
• Study, realisation and laboratory characterisation of surface treatments and coatings with anti-icing properties on samples of aluminum and its alloys.
• Study of the effect of surface roughness on hydrophobicity and icephobicity: characterisation and comparison of different surface processes.
• Study of the growth of oxides preparatory to icephobic treatments, with identification of the optimal time for obtaining the best hydrophobicity characteristics.
• Development of techniques for measuring the contact angle of water on treated surfaces at low temperatures.
• Indoor testing at climate chambers capable of producing artificial wet snow.
• Study and application of coatings to glass insulators for outdoor testing.
• Design, fabrication and experimental verification in the Superconductor Laboratory of a 100 m SAT winding, of the actual size for an SFCL prototype, with critical current measurements and AC current injection for AC loss assessment.
• Experiments with and analysis on innovative YBCO- and GdBCO-based 2G SAT tapes and related windings under the FASTGRID project.
• State of the art of the analysis of mechanical stresses of thermal origin in 2G SAT coated conductor tapes when assembled with different materials to make devices.
• Study and modeling for the quantitative assessment of heat transfer phenomena through cryostat enclosures, with special reference to complex MLI (Multi Layer Insulation) structures.
• Extension, employing the developed models, of thermo-fluid dynamic analysis for dual-chamber cryostats using different fluid pairs with respect to the already studied nitrogen-helium cases.

Knowledge was continuously disseminated through publication of papers and presentations at conferences, for details see the concluding chapter.