Identification of quench origins in a superconductor with acoustic emission and voltage measurements

Abstract

The acoustic emission and voltage measurements were used to identify quench sources in a current-carrying superconductor. The sources identified were (i) conductor motion, (ii) epoxy cracking, and (iii) pure joule heating resulting from the conductor reaching critical current. The combination of these two techniques appears to be a promising diagnostic tool in probing premature quenches in superconductors and superconducting magnets.