Transverse Thermal Conductivity of REBCO Coated Conductors

TL;DR

This paper measures the transverse thermal conductivity of REBCO coated conductors from different manufacturers, highlighting the influence of stabilizer presence and substrate dominance, which are crucial for quench protection in superconducting magnets.

Contribution

It provides the first measurements of transverse thermal conductivity on individual REBCO coated conductors, clarifying the effects of stabilizer and substrate on thermal properties.

Findings

Stabilizer at tape edges increases thermal conductivity.

Substrate dominates thermal resistance when stabilizer is absent.

Measurements on single tapes avoid spurious effects.

Abstract

REBCO coated conductors (CCs) have the potential to widen considerably the application areas of superconductivity. Quench protection of REBCO-based devices represents one of the major obstacles to this expansion. Thermal conductivity data are mandatory ingredients for quench simulation studies. In particular, the transverse thermal conductivity ($\kappa_T$) of the CC plays a key role in case of quenches in superconducting magnets. In the present work, we report $\kappa_T$ of thermally stabilized REBCO CCs produced by different manufacturers. We have measured $\kappa_T$ on single CCs rather than on stacks of soldered tapes, this excludes spurious contributions in the measurements. We have found that the presence of the stabilizer at the tape edges in Cu-electroplated CCs increases the overall $\kappa_T$. In the absence of this effect, the overall thermal resistance is dominated by the substrate.