Numerical simulation of mold shape's influence on NbTi cold-pressing superconducting joint

Highlights: • Four different shape molds' influence on NbTi cold-pressing joint are analyzed. • Deformation of filaments is the most uniform in the case of radial compression. • The square mold is the optimum one for decreasing joint resistance in practice. - Abstract: The cold-pressing welding methods are employed to fabricate joints between NbTi multi-filamentary conductors, and a series of joints are made with the molds of different shapes for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) magnet applications. The Abaqus–Explicit method was used to do a quasi-static analysis of the cold-pressing welding process. In the simulation, we analyzed four molds with different shapes: plate mold, cap mold, square mold, and radial compression. The simulation shows that the deformation of filaments is the most uniform in the case of radial compression and the square mold is the optimum one for decreasing joint resistance