Degradation of the current-carrying capacity of low-temperature superconducting composites under the action of thermal perturbations

Abstract

The stability of transport current introduced into a niobium titanium superconducting composite subjected to an external pulsed thermal perturbation has been studied. Stable states have been theoretically analyzed by solving Fourier and Maxwell equations that describe the thermoelectrodynamic states of lowtemperature superconductors with flux creep. It has been shown that, if the transport current is permanently introduced, subcritical thermal perturbations, i.e., perturbations that do not take the composite to a normal state provided that the current does not exceed the quench current, may result in the appearance of unstable current states. The higher the energy of the external thermal perturbation, the lower the instability onset current. It has been found that the degradation of the current-carrying capacity of the superconducting composite is due to intense heat release inside the superconductor, which is initiated by the thermal perturbations, and depends on the current input rate, the instant of time the current input is terminated, and cooling conditions.