International round robin test of the retained critical current after double bending at room temperature of Ag-sheathed Bi-2223 superconducting wires

An international round robin test was carried out in order to establish a test method for retained critical current after double bending at room temperature of Ag-sheathed Bi-2223 superconducting wires. Tests for commercial Bi-2223 tape were conducted by six laboratories using the same guidelines. The standard uncertainties (SUs) of measurands were evaluated for these four quantities: I _C0, I _C/I _C080, I _C/I _C060, I _C/I _C050, where, I _C0 is initial critical current and I _C /I _C0XX is critical current after XX mm bending. Using an F test to determine where the most scatter was generated in the test results it was found that the greatest scatter in the normalized critical current measurements came from inter-laboratory scatter. In a type-B uncertainty evaluation, the major contribution was from the bending diameter and measuring temperature. The relative SU tended to increase as the bending diameter decreased. A specific mandrel diameter corresponding to a retained critical current of 95% could be determined with a relative SU of 1.3%. In order to reduce the overall scatter, the temperature difference between the critical current measurements before and after bending should be small. (paper)