Numerical and Experimental Analysis of Quench Behaviors in Iron-Based Sr/Ba122 Superconducting Tape at Liquid Helium Temperature

Since the initial identification of the iron-based superconductors (IBS) in 2008, numerous studies had focused on how to improve critical current density. However, the research of quench behaviors for iron-based multi-filamentary tapes was rarely reported. It is important to understand quench behaviors, and two main parameters should be examined carefully, i.e., normal zone propagation velocity (NZPV) and minimum quench energy (MQE). In this paper, a two-dimensional quench model integrating the stationary electrodynamics equations and heat conduction equation was proposed to study the quench propagation of iron-based Sr/Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2 (Sr/Ba122) tape in different transport currents and temperatures. MQEs and NPZVs of IBS tape were calculated by the quench model, and the results were well complied with experimentally results which verified the correctness of the proposed quench model. In addition, since iron-based superconducting coils for high magnetic field application were operating in liquid helium mostly, an experiment was performed to study the quench behaviors of Ba122 tape in liquid helium, for the purpose of understanding the stability of the iron-based superconductor and designing quench protection systems of IBS coils reliably.