Qualitative Study on Cable Breakage of Nb3Sn CICC Based on Direct Current Potential Drop Method

Nb3Sn cable-in-conduit conductor (CICC) technology is widely applied to the large scale superconducting magnets. Due to the multi-level composite structure, it is easy to cause partial damage or even strand breakage of the superconducting cable in the complex deformation mode. To evaluate the cable breakage of Nb3Sn CICC, direct current potential drop (DCPD) technique is proposed in this study. Serious of benchmark samples of cable with stage 3 were prepared and different breakage rates were de-signed in the cable samples. Potential difference (PD) obtained from the both side of the cable breakage was measured and ana-lyzed. The experimental results indicated that direct current po-tential drop (DCPD) method is effective to qualitative measure-ment of cable breakage.