Performance characteristics of REBCO coated conductor joints fabricated by flux-free hybrid welding

Abstract Recently, the joining of rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) coated conductor (CC) tapes using ultrasonic welding (UW) has demonstrated outstanding potential in the in-line fabrication of longer tapes required for superconducting device applications. The UW method can produce CC joints by applying ultrasonic vibration in less than one second, and hybrid welding (HW) has been adopted to improve further the joint resistance (Rj) and electromechanical properties of the UW CC joints. However, conventional methods for preparing the HW and soldered CC joints involve applying solder flux to remove the oxide film, which can cause corrosion to the surface of the CC tapes and affect the joint's lifespan during device operation. Therefore, this study aims to fabricate a robust HW CC joint of pre-solder insertion without solder flux and compare its joint strength and electromechanical properties with the traditional cases with the solder flux. While similar Rj can be obtained from both cases of HW CC joints, the flux-free HW CC joint has slightly higher joint strength and superior adhesive characteristics than those with flux. The difference in fracture mechanisms after lap-shear and T-peel tests between flux-free HW and with flux was extensively discussed. Additionally, the study investigates the correlation between a decrease in Rj with longer joint length in differently stabilized and processed CC tapes for flux-free HW. Overall, this study demonstrated that the flux-free HW method could efficiently produce robust CC joints with a lesser risk of corrosion and enhanced joint characteristics.