Local Current Flow and Dissipation in Multi-filamentary YBCO Coated Conductor under the Influence of Microstructural Inhomogeneity

Local current flow and dissipation in a three parallel 100μm-wide filamentary YBCO tape had been studied in order to investigate the current carrying capability in each filament under the influence of local obstacles. Structural inhomogeneity and local flux flow dissipation have been visualized by using thermal laser stimulation technique and its local current density was measured by scanning SQUID microscope. By combining local current distribution with dissipation, we made estimations on local the J_c and I_c values in each filament. Results have shown a current imbalance on the current sharing in the filamentary structure. It has been shown that the I_c is possibly influenced significantly if the filament size reaches 100μm scale because of current blocking obstacles