Fabrication and Characteristic Tests of a Novel Low-Resistance Joint Structure for YBCO Coated-Conductors

Joints play an important role in the application of YBaCuO-coated conductors. Given the limited length and various requirements of tapes, large numbers of joints are needed in some applications. Therefore, developing stable joints between tapes and achieving low joint resistance has become an important issue for the application of YBCO tapes. In this paper, we propose a novel superconducting joint production process and fabricate these joints with a lamination machine. A few meters or more than 10 m of joint overlapping length can be achieved, and the joint resistance can be as low as 2.25 nΩ when the overlapping length reaches 8 m. A series of experiments has been carried out to explore the joint resistance changing law, with overlap length increases, and the joint characteristics. The results show that joint resistance is inversely proportional to the overlap length. Although long bridge joints cost more, they have an incomparable advantage in that the joint resistance is distributed over the bridge joint, which allows for more stable operation and less liquid nitrogen boiloff. After joint lamination processing, the burnout current rises from 276 to 523 A. Critical current and joint resistance are not affected by the overcurrent before the joint burns out.