R-z plane spatial critical current inhomogeneity-induced mechanical response of GdBCO superconducting bulks during field cooling magnetization

Benefiting from the high critical current density (J(c)), single-grain (RE)BCO (where RE = rare earth or Gd) bulks are capable of trapping over 17.6 T magnetic field which is crucial for the application of bulk superconductors. Nevertheless, during field cooling magnetization (FCM), the large mechanical stress induced by Lorentz forces may lead to fracture behavior in the brittle ceramic nature of (RE)BCO materials. Most previous numerical models that adopted simplified homogeneous J(c) had difficulty reflecting the real stress/strain situation in high temperature superconductor (HTS) bulks. Based on the proposed modified Jirsa model considering r-z plane J(c) inhomogeneity, we investigate the mechanical response of GdBCO bulks manufactured by top-seeded melt growth (TSMG) process. A 2D axisymmetric electromagnetic-thermal-mechanical coupled model is implemented to take into account the dependence of J(c) upon mechanical deformation. The simulation results show the electromagnetic-thermal-mechanical response of the r-z plane inhomogeneous J(c) model is lower than that obtained by the homogeneous J(c) model. This confirms Takahashi's speculation (K Takahashi 2019 Supercond. Sci. Technol.32 015007) about the mismatch between experimental data and the simulation results of homogeneous J(c) model, and suggests the stress levels in the bottom plane of HTS bulk are overestimated by the previous homogeneous J(c) model. On top of that, the overall stress level of GdBCO bulk is strongly determined by the magnitude and position of the Lorentz force load, and the stress distribution of inhomogeneous J(c) model is mainly concentrated in high J(c) regions near top surface, instead of being symmetrically distributed along the z-axis as in homogeneous J(c) model. The mechanical response of stainless steel reinforced GdBCO bulk was aslo simulated and analyzed. Finally, the coupling effect between the fracture strength variability caused by defects and cracks and the trapped field in GdBCO bulks with r-z plane J(c) inhomogeneity is further studied. This study may provide a relatively realistic mechanical response of HTS bulk during FCM, and a novel design consideration for its mechanical reinforcement.