Review of progress in electromechanical properties of REBCO coated conductors for electric device applications

Rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) coated conductor (CC) tapes have already been commercialized but still possess some issues in terms of manufacturing cost, anisotropic in-field performance, I_c response to mechanical loads such as delamination, homogeneity of current transport property, and production length. Development on improving its performance properties to meet the needs in practical device applications is underway and simplification of the tapes architecture and manufacturing process are also being considered to enhance the performance-cost ratio. As compared to low temperature superconductors (LTS), high temperature superconductor (HTS) REBCO CC tapes provide a much wider range of operating temperature and a higher critical current density at 4.2 K making it more attractive in magnet and coil applications. The superior properties of the REBCO CC tapes under magnetic field have led to the development of superconducting magnets capable of producing field way above 23.5 T. In order to achieve its optimum performance, the electromechanical properties under different deformation modes and magnetic field should be evaluated for practical device design. This paper gives an overview of the effects of mechanical stress/strain on I_c in HTS CC tapes due to uniaxial tension, bending deformation, transverse load, and including the electrical performance of a CC tape joint which were performed by our group at ANU in the last decade.