Stable, predictable and training-free operation of superconducting Bi-2212 Rutherford cable racetrack coils at the wire current density of 1000 A/mm2

Abstract

High-temperature superconductors (HTS) could enable high-field magnets stronger than is possible with Nb-Ti and Nb3Sn, but two challenges have so far been the low engineering critical current density JE, especially in high-current cables, and the danger of quenches. Most HTS magnets made so far have been made out of REBCO coated conductor. Here we demonstrate stable, reliable and training-quench-free performance of Bi-2212 racetrack coils wound with a Rutherford cable fabricated from wires made with a new precursor powder. These round multifilamentary wires exhibited a record JE up to 950 A/mm2 at 30 T at 4.2 K. These coils carried up to 8.6 kA while generating 3.5 T at 4.2 K at a JE of 1020 A/mm2. Different from the unpredictable training performance of Nb-Ti and Nb3Sn magnets, these Bi-2212 magnets showed no training quenches and entered the flux flow state in a stable manner before thermal runaway and quench occurred. Also different from Nb-Ti, Nb3Sn, and REBCO magnets for which localized thermal runaways occur at unpredictable locations, the quenches of Bi-2212 magnets consistently occurred in the high field regions over a long conductor length. These characteristics make quench detection simple, enabling safe protection, and suggest a new paradigm of constructing quench-predictable superconducting magnets from Bi-2212.