The effect of transverse stress on the critical current of Nb/sub 3/Sn cable-in-conduit superconductors

An investigation has been conducted of the effects of transverse stress on the critical current of Nb/sub 3/Sn cable-in-conduit conductors (CICC). The sensitivity of the critical current (I/sub c/) to applied stress at 12 T has been determined for CICCs with helium void fractions (f/sub He/) in the range of 0.25-0.4. I/sub c/ has been found to be a function of transverse stress with good correlation with single-wire data up to stress levels of 50 MPa. At higher stress levels with the CICCs show significantly higher degradation with transverse stress. No clear correlation has been found between the stress sensitivity of I/sub c/ and f/sub He/. The results fall into a broadband, suggesting that geometric factors, such as wire position within the cable bundle, exert a strong influence on the I/sub c/ vs. stress dependence.<
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