Mitigation of critical current degradation in mechanically loaded Nb ₃Sn superconducting multi-strand cable

It was reported that Lorentz force caused degradation of critical current in the ITER-TFMC conductor. We have used our novel experimental setup, which utilizes the closed electric circuit concept for critical current and stability measurements of multi-stand superconducting cables. The feature of this setup is mechanical loading applied to the multi-strand cable in the transverse direction. Significant degradation in the critical current of the cable was observed when the average compressive stress was about 20 MPa. This degradation was found irreversible after unloading. We tested the cable with epoxy or ice molds as well. No degradation was observed in the molded cables. We also tested the cable with smaller void fraction. In this case, significant degradation in critical current was observed.