Current Sharing and Mechanical Properties of Slot-n-Fill REBCO Tapes

Abstract

Rare earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) coated conductor tapes and cables are promising material candidates for high- power-density and highly efficient electric machines and high magnetic field applications. Enhancing the current sharing in between different strands/layers is one of the practical methods to improve the overall quench stability of a multi-strand cable or a no-insulation coil. In this work, we introduce the slot-and-fill (Slot-n-Fill) method to increase current sharing in REBCO tapes. Compared to the original tape, the Slot-n-Fill tape has slightly different bending retention performance, ∼7% lower irreversible tensile strength, and ∼5% lower I_c. However, the current sharing metric (CSM) in a 2-ply stack is improved from 1.025 in the control sample to 1.2 in the Slot-n-Fill tape stack.