Experimental Research on Bending Characterization of 2G Tapes and Strand Consisting of 2G Tapes

Abstract

In order to improve the anisotropic characteristics of critical current and current-carrying capacity, a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) strand made from four substacks consisting of the second-generation (2G) HTS tapes was designed and prepared since a single HTS tape has a limited current-carrying capacity. The strand with a round cross-sectional aluminum sheath is composed of two components with stacked 2G tapes and outer sheaths which are normal metals as jackets. A strand model with a round cross section and an aluminum sheath was designed and fabricated for the evaluation of the bending characteristics. In order to demonstrate its bending characteristics, the dependence of critical current on in-plane bending radii for 2G tapes and bending radii for the strand sample was tested in self-field and at 77 K. The results show that the minimum bending radius of the strand sample is larger than the minimum in-plane bending radius of the 2G tapes.