Analysis of the influence of voids and a crack on the ultimate tensile strength of REBCO bulk superconductor

Since the high T_c rare-earth based bulk superconductor is subjected to the tensile load in radial and circumferential direction by the Lorentz force generated in the magnetization process, the evaluation of the strength by the tensile test is indispensable. Ultimate tensile strength of the bulk superconductor depends on the defects in each sample. Many artificial specimens containing voids were generated for numerical stress calculations. The distribution of the voids diameter in each artificial specimen was based on the observations of Dy123 containing 25 wt% Dy211 (abbreviated as Dy25). Furthermore, the effect of a center crack superposed to the field of the voids on the strength was analytically evaluated. The strength depends on both the size and the location of the voids. The maximum crack length which has eventually no effect on the strength was evaluated. By the evaluation method proposed in this study, it was found that if there had been no void in the Dy25 bulk sample, the tensile strength could have been estimated to be 63 MPa. The voids increase the stress intensity factor at the crack tip. If there is a crack with 0.16 mm or more in the Dy25 superconductor bulk with the porosity 10%, the fracture may not be originated around a void but at a crack tip.