Scientific article
English

Finite-Element Analysis of Transverse Compressive and Thermal Loads on Nb3Sn Wires With Voids

Publication date2016
Abstract

High-field superconducting magnets play a very important role in many large-scale physics experiments, particularly particle colliders and fusion confinement devices such as Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The two most common superconductors used in these applications are NbTi and Nb3Sn. Nb3Sn wires are favored because of their significantly higher Jc (critical current density) for higher field applications. The main disadvantage of Nb3Sn is that the superconducting performance of the wire is highly strain sensitive and it is very brittle. This strain sensitivity is strongly influenced by two factors: plasticity and cracked filaments. Cracks are induced by large stress concentrators that can be traced to the presence of voids in the wire. We develop detailed 2-D and 3-D finite-element models containing wire filaments and different possible distributions of voids in a bronze-route Nb3Sn wire. We apply compressive transverse loads for various cases of void distributions to simulate the stress and strain response of a Nb3Sn wire under the Lorentz force. This paper improves our understanding of the effect voids have on the Nb3Sn wire's mechanical properties, and in so, the connection between the distribution of voids and performance degradation such as the correlation between irreversible strain limit and the void-induced local stress concentrations.

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Citation (ISO format)
ZHAI, Y. et al. Finite-Element Analysis of Transverse Compressive and Thermal Loads on Nb3Sn Wires With Voids. In: IEEE transactions on applied superconductivity, 2016, vol. 26, n° 4. doi: 10.1109/TASC.2016.2535784
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Journal ISSN1051-8223
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