Effect of Interim Annealing on Mechanical Strength of TFA-MOD Derived YBCO Coated Conductors

TFA-MOD derived YBCO tapes are expected for many applications due to cost-efficiency. In some applications, uniformity and mechanical strength are required for tapes. A 205 m-long YBCO tape was fabricated with high and uniform Ic performance throughout the tape by adopting the interim annealing before the conversion process. The effect of the interim annealing on the crystal growth mechanism of YBCO has been studied focusing on the relationship between the interim annealing conditions and delamination, in this work. Delamination strength was evaluated in the samples prepared with and without interim annealing by the stud pull method. Measurements were carried out on 50 different points for each sample and the results were analyzed statistically. The difference between the two samples was remarkably seen in the delamination strength below 60 MPa. The conventionally annealed sample had more points with low delamination strength below 60 MPa than the interim annealed one. The cross sectional images of both samples observed by SEM showed that there were few pores within the interim annealed superconducting layer, although conventional superconducting layer had many pores. These results suggest that the pores within YBCO layer might be origins to be propagated for delamination at low strength.