Impact of Coated Conductor Architecture on Conductor Stability
and AC Loss for Power Applications

Robert Duckworth, Yifei Zhang, Fred List

Abstract — Conductor stability and ac loss are two inter-related operational issues that can complicate the introduction of coated conductors into high temperature superconducting applications. With respect to conductor architecture, conductor stability and ac loss are currently being explored in as-manufactured coated conductors as well as prototype conductor geometries. In as-manufactured coated conductors, materials that are used for stabilization have been shown to influence conductor stability at either steady state and/or transient operating conditions. Stabilization can be utilized to either limit faults and suppress temperature rise, but the thickness and material properties can impact the ac loss on a single tape basis and more importantly when multiple conductors are integrated into a given device geometry. In prototype conductor geometries, different methods are being pursued to produce filamentary conductors that reduce ac loss. Processes that lead to low ac loss could compromise conductor stability due to the lack of current sharing between filaments. To improve the viability of low ac loss geome-tries, conductor stability needs to be part of the evaluation for a given conductor architecture and this evaluation needs to occur in both long length tapes and in prototype devices.

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