Engineering Nanocolumnar Defect Configurations for Optimized Vortex Pinning in High Temperature Superconducting Nanocomposite Wires

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2013 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep02310· OSTI ID:1093051

Wee, Sung Hun ^[1]; Zuev, Yuri L ^[1]; Cantoni, Claudia ^[1]; Goyal, Amit ^[1]; Ahuja, Raj ^[2]; Abiade, J. ^[3]

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1. ORNL
2. Waukesha Electric Systems Inc.
3. North Carolina A&T State University

High temperature superconducting (HTS), coated conductor wires based on nanocomposite films containing self-assembled, insulating BaZrO3 (BZO) nanocolumnar defects have previously been reported to exhibit enhanced vortex pinning. Here, we report on microstructural design via control of BZO nanocolumns density in YBa2Cu3O7- (YBCO)+BZO nancomposite films to achieve the highest critical current density, Jc(H, ,T). X-ray diffraction and microstructural examination shows increasing number density of epitaxial BZO nanocolumns in the highly cube-textured YBCO matrix with increasing nominal BZO additions. Transport property measurement reveals that an increase in BZO content upto 4 vol% is required to sustain the highest pinning and Jc performance as the magnetic field increases. By growing thicker, single-layer nanocomposite films (~4 m) with controlled density of BZO columnar defects, the critical current (Ic) of ~1000 A/cm at 77 K, self-field and the minimum Ic of 455 A/cm at 65 K and 3 T for all magnetic field orientations were obtained. This is the highest Ic reported to date for films on metallic templates which are the basis for the 2nd generation, coated conductor-based HTS wires.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Shared Research Equipment Collaborative Research Center
• Sponsoring Organization: OE USDOE - Office of Electric Transmission and Distribution
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1093051
• Journal Information: Scientific Reports, Vol. 3; ISSN 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

high temperature superconductor
flux-pinning
epitaxial nanocomposite films
critical current density