Quench Characteristics of a Two-Strand Superconducting Cable and the Influence of Its Length

Abstract- The quench process of a multi-strand cable was investigated using the simplest system: two twisted wires. Several properties of the quench, such as the comnutation of currents, the time scale, the resistance rate and the maximum voltage were determined experi-mentally or by calculation. Particular attention was given to the role of the cable length. Several samples with lengths varying from 1.5 cm to 12 m were made from an AC superconductor with CuNi matrix. In the experiment, the decay of the currents is measured after initiating a local normal spot in one of the wires. An important conclusion is that the quench propagation and stability of a cable depends on its length and can therefore be influenced by soldering it at certain intervals. I