In order to construct a high yield, positron source that can meet the intensity requirements of future facilities, a robust conversion target is needed. One solution is to use a rotating titanium alloy wheel upon which a beam of photons is incident. The efficiency of capturing the resulting positrons can be optimised by immersing this system in a magnetic field. As described elsewhere, a prototype of such a target has been built at Daresbury Laboratory, to investigate the mechanical challenges associated with its construction and to study the magnetic effects that the wheel will experience. In this paper, predictions of the eddy current power losses in the target prototype obtained from magnetic modelling simulations are presented, and an initial analysis of the thermal shocks that the ILC target wheel is expected to experience due to beam loading during operation is described.