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Reducing the Effective
Filament Diameter of Niobium‑Tin Superconductors--Alabama Cryogenic
Engineering, Inc., 2010F Franklin Street, Huntsville, AL 35804-2470;
256-536-8629
Dr. John B. Hendricks, Principal
Investigator, aceinc@mindspring.com
Dr. John B. Hendricks, Business
Official, aceinc@mindspring.com
DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-07ER84850
Amount: $99,986
Niobium
tin superconductors have had large improvements in current density over the
past few years. However, the effective
filament diameters of these conductors are too large, which can limit their
application in areas such as High Energy Physics Colliders,
Fusion Devices, and laboratory electromagnets.
The filament diameter limits have been shown to be caused by fundaments
limits in the cold drawing process. An
alternate technology, hydrostatic drawing, has been shown to remove these
limits and will be capable of producing multi-filament superconductors with
much smaller effective filament diameters.
In this project, several billets, using two different conductor
architectures, will be processed to produce short samples of conductors having
filament sizes below 30µ. The samples
will be tested to see if the reduction in filament diameters is affecting the
critical current density. The most
promising candidate design will be selected and long (>1,000 foot) lengths
of the conductor will be produced in Phase II for testing in magnet systems.
Commercial
Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: Presently
available superconductors are placing limits on the designs of systems. An improved niobium tin superconductor should
displace the existing materials in many applications within a relatively short
time frame. The present commercial
market for niobium tin superconductors is approximately $20,000,000 per year.