Improvement of the self-field critical current of a high-Tc superconducting tape by the edge cover from soft ferromagnetic material

Improvement of the electrical transport capability is analyzed for a superconducting wire with elliptic section, when its edges have been covered by a soft ferromagnetic material. Numerical calculations have been carried out to find the distributions of electrical current and magnetic field when reaching the critical current. The dependence of critical current density on local magnetic field and its orientation has been taken into consideration. For an arrangement that resembles a typical commercial tape from high-temperature superconductor Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 covered by a Ni sheath at edges, an increase of self-field critical current could reach 10%.