Effect of Defects on the Quench Properties of Stacked REBCO Tapes

The local thermal disturbance will produce a joule heat. When the joule heat is larger than the minimum quench energy (MQE), it will lead to the phenomenon of a quench. The same problem exists in stacked superconducting tapes. In this article, the defects in REBCO tapes were created using the bending method. The voltage and temperature traces were measured during the quench process. The quench characteristics of the MQE and normal zone propagation velocity (NZPV) of the stacked REBCO tapes were investigated of different stacked REBCO tapes in the following configurations: two defects-free tapes; one defect-free tape and one tape with a defect; and both tapes with defects. The MQE of the stacked tapes with the defect is smaller than that of the tapes without defects, while the NZPV of the stacked tapes with the defect is larger than that of the tapes without defects.