Influence of Bending and Torsion Strains on Critical Currents in YBCO Coated Conductors

The second-generation high temperature superconductor (2G HTS) wire is the most promising conductor for high-field magnets such as accelerator dipoles and compact fusion devices. The key element of the wire is a thin Y 1 Ba 2 Cu 3 O 7 (YBCO) layer deposited on a flexible metal substrate. The substrate, which becomes incorporated in the 2G conductor, reduces the electrical and mechanical performance of the wire. This is a process that exfoliates the YBCO layer from the substrate while retaining the critical current density of the superconductor. Ten-centimeter long coupons of exfoliated YBCO layers were manufactured, and detailed structural, electrical, and mechanical characterization were reported. After exfoliation, the YBCO layer was supported by a 75 μm thick stainless steel foil, which makes for a compact, mechanically stronger, and inexpensive conductor. The critical current density of the filaments was measured at both 77 K and 4.2 K. The exfoliated YBCO retained 90% of the original critical current. Similarly, tests in an external magnetic field at 4.2 K confirmed that the pinning strength of the YBCO layer was also retained following exfoliation.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Exfoliated YBCO filaments for second-generation superconducting cable

Solovyov

Farrell

2016

“…In order to preserve the tape's superconducting performances, the conductor strain must be kept below a critical limit. The importance strains are: bending during the winding process [85,86]; cleavage by differential thermal contractions, particularly in an epoxyimpregnated coil [72]; and electromagnetic hoop stress (see section 3.1.6).…”

Section: Coil Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Progresses and challenges in the development of high-field solenoidal magnets based on RE123 coated conductors

Senatore

Alessandrini

Lucarelli

et al. 2014

255

136

Recent progresses in the second generation REBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 − x (RE123) coated conductor (CC) have paved a way for the development of superconducting solenoids capable of generating fields well above 23.5 T, i.e. the limit of NbTi−Nb 3 Sn-based magnets. However, the RE123 magnet still poses several fundamental and engineering challenges. In this work we review the state-ofthe-art of conductor and magnet technologies. The goal is to illustrate a close synergetic relationship between evolution of high-field magnets and advancement in superconductor technology. The paper is organized in three parts: (1) the basics of RE123 CC fabrication technique, including latest developments to improve conductor performance and production throughput; (2) critical issues and innovative design concepts for the RE123-based magnet; and (3) an overview of noteworthy ongoing magnet projects.

“…We found the I c decayed at a larger critical bending radius (corresponds to smaller critical bending strain) when the REBCO tapes were bent outward compared with bending inward, which suggested that the critical current degradation appeared earlier under tensile bending (bent outward) than compressive bending (bent inward). Several existing studies has observed similar phenomenon [7,[49][50][51]. Therefore, it was necessary to ensure that the bending direction of the tapes was consistent in all the bending tests.…”

Section: Critical Current Test Under Bending Strainmentioning

confidence: 85%

Typical electrical, mechanical, electromechanical characteristics of copper-encapsulated REBCO tapes after processing in temperature under 250 °C

Pan

Yu³

et al. 2023

Heat treatments are inevitable not only in the production of rare earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) tapes, but also in their post-processing for applications, typically, in soldering and epoxy/wax impregnation during the fabrication of REBCO coils. In general, the heat treatment of REBCO tapes should be carried out at lower temperature for a shorter time, but the specific safe boundary of heat-treatment temperature and time for REBCO tapes is still unknown. Therefore, a comprehensive study on the typical electrical, mechanical, and electromechanical characteristics of REBCO tapes after heat treatments under temperature of 250 ℃ is necessary. This work focus on the copper-encapsulated REBCO tapes, which are more robust (while with much lower engineering current density) to be processed in application systems than the tapes without encapsulation. The critical current degradation, stress-strain characteristic, and electromechanical properties of REBCO tapes were measured after heat treatments at different temperatures in argon and oxygen atmosphere. A 2D finite element analysis model was established for detailed stress/train analyzes under tension and bending based on the analysis of residual stress/strain. The results indicate that the critical current of the copper-encapsulated REBCO tapes decreases with increasing heat-treatment temperature and dwell time, and is of no evident relation to atmosphere. In addition, increased temperature of heat treatment leads to an obvious decrease in the yield strength and critical tensile stress. This effect is mainly attributed to the degradation of mechanical properties of the encapsulated copper layer, which is demonstrated by the combination of our finite element simulation and the experiments results. Interestingly, the change in the critical bending radius due to heat treatments was slight, because the bending axial strain of the REBCO layer remained almost unchanged after heating. It is also worthy to note that all the properties tested in this study were irrelevant to the external oxygen partial pressure during the heating process. As a practical conclusion for the application systems, an upper and atmosphere-irrelevant limit of processing temperature of 130 or 150 ℃ (2 h dwell time) was proposed for copper-encapsulated REBCO tapes, under which the critical current, yield strength, critical tensile stress/strain and critical bending radius of the copper-encapsulated REBCO tapes decay by < 1% or 3%, respectively.