Delamination model of an epoxy-impregnated REBCO superconducting pancake winding

Abstract

Rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) coated conductor (CC) tapes are promising for high-energy and high-field applications. In epoxy-impregnated REBCO superconducting windings, during the cooling process, the delamination induced by thermal mismatch stress significantly threatens stable operation due to the weak c-axial strength of REBCO CC tapes. In this study, a two-dimensional axisymmetric multilayer delamination finite element model with main layers of REBCO CC tapes and insulation materials was developed based on the bilinear cohesive zone model. Based on the proposed model, the stress distribution and delamination properties of an epoxy-impregnated REBCO winding induced during the cooling process were investigated. Furthermore, the effects on the structural configuration on the delamination and optimisation schemes of fabrication are discussed. The model results indicate that during the cooling process of the REBCO winding, when the radial tensile stress induced by the thermal mismatch stress is greater than the delamination strength, interface cracking will occur. Interface failure occurs in regions containing several turns of coils and not just a single-turn coil. Our analyses indicate that structural failure caused by delamination depends on the radius ratio of the outer to the inner winding, where a small radius ratio is preferred to reduce the risk of delamination. An excessive radius ratio can result in multiple delamination failures during the cooling process. The optimisation scheme, which divides the winding into several sub-windings with a consistently small radius ratio, is an effective method for mitigating the risk of delamination failure, which is consistent with available experimental results. Additionally, by reducing the thermal expansion coefficient of the epoxy resin, the risk of delamination failure during cooling can be significantly reduced. For the winding structure considered in this study, if the coefficient of thermal expansion of the epoxy resin is reduced to 5 ( K−1), then delamination failure caused by thermal mismatch will be eliminated. Our model results are consistent with those of several valuable experimental phenomena and numerical calculated in the literature.