Fatigue of a Reinforced High Temperature Superconducting Tape

High-cycle fatigue-life behavior of commercial multifilamentary BSCCO 2223 powder-in-tube tape and reinforced tape was evaluated. Mechanical fatigue at room temperature and 77 K, and the onset of significant superconductivity degradation at 77 K were evaluated under tension perpendicular to the flat faces of the tapes. No fatigue behavior was observed in this transverse configuration for unreinforced tape, but fatigue-life behavior associated until delamination of the reinforcement was found for reinforced tape. Fatigue tolerance of the reinforced tape is very high, about 24 MPa, to at least 100 000 cycles.