Influence of Combined Tension and Torsion on the Performance of REBCO Superconducting Tapes

Rare-earth-barium-copper-oxide (REBCO) coated conductor tapes are promising materials for superconducting cables and wires. Simulation studies of the impact of the mechanical loading on the degradation of superconducting tapes give a better understanding on the role of different geometrical parameters like tape width and thicknesses of constituent layers. In this article, a detailed analysis of combined tensile and torsional loading on REBCO tape is carried out. The results show that the thickness of each constituting layer of the tape influences the ability of the tape to withstand tensile and torsional loads. Although increasing the width of the tape increases the maximum allowable tensile load, it decreases its ability to withstand the torsional load. The angle of twist is increased from 0.18 to 0.72 °/mm, and the maximum applied tensile strain that can be applied is decreased from 0.65% to 0.3%. The maximum allowable angle of twist is decreased from 4 to 0.93 °/mm with the increase in the tape width from 3 to 12 mm under pure torsion. The critical current retention capacity of the tape changes with different geometric parameters of the tape. The findings are useful in determining appropriate values for the thicknesses of each layer and width of the tape corresponding to the magnitude of pure tensile, pure torsional and combined tensile and torsional loads experienced.