Bending Characteristics of a Quasi-isotropic HTS Conductor with High Engineering Current Density

Abstract

A high-temperature superconductor (HTS) with high engineering current density and flexibility has recently been proposed and tested. The conductor is suitable for fusion magnets because of its high carrying current capacity in high field. However, the accumulated strain during the conductor fabrication and coil winding may cause irreversible degradation of the conductor critical current. Therefore, it is important to study the bending characteristics of the conductor and the accumulated winding strain and twisting strain on the HTS tapes during the conductor fabrication process. In this paper, the finite element method is used to study the bending characteristics of the conductor, and the degradation extent of the conductor critical current under different bending radii was calculated. Bending experiment was carried out, and the conductor critical currents at 77 K in self-field under different bending radii were measured. The experimental and finite element analysis results presented in this paper are useful in application of the conductor in high-field and large-scale magnet.