skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Large enhancement of the in-field critical current density of YBCO coated conductors due to composite pinning landscape

Journal Article · · Superconductor Science and Technology
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [4];  [4];  [5];  [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [6];  [7];  [7]; ORCiD logo [8]
  1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); City Univ. of New York (CUNY), NY (United States)
  2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
  4. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  5. Western Michigan Univ., Kalamazoo MI (United States)
  6. National Inst. of Nuclear Physics (INFN), Torino (Italy)
  7. American Superconductor Corp., Ayer, MA (United States)
  8. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) (France)

YBa2Cu3O7-based coated conductors (CCs) achieve the highest critical current densities (J c) of any known superconductor and are a key technology for applications such as rotatory machines, high-field magnets and power transmission. Incorporation of nano-sized non-superconducting second phases as additional vortex pinning centers has been considered the most amenable route to further enhance J c at an industrial scale, and has been successfully used in commercial CCs. The resulting pinning landscape is quite complex, with both synergistic and competing interactions among the various types of defects. Particle irradiation, on the other hand, allows for a controlled post-processing incorporation of a well-defined defect morphology. We have previously shown that irradiation with protons and other light ions can further enhance the in-field J c in commercial state-of-the-art CCs. Here we develop a combined irradiation process that increases J c above values previously achieved by irradiating with only one species. Our new approach involves sequentially irradiating with 250 MeV Au ions and 4 MeV protons. For example, at T~ 27 K (liquid neon) and µ 0 H~ 4 T, a region of interest for rotatory machines applications, we obtain J c ~ 5 MA cm-2, which is about 40% higher than the values produced by the individual irradiations. Finally, we conclude that this is due to the synergistic pinning effects of the introduced splayed, non-uniform columnar defects and small clusters.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences and Engineering Division; National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; 89233218CNA000001
OSTI ID:
1779276
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1841912
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-20-20099; 164872; TRN: US2209630
Journal Information:
Superconductor Science and Technology, Vol. 34, Issue 1; ISSN 0953-2048
Publisher:
IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (73)

The effects of density and size of BaMO 3 (M=Zr, Nb, Sn) nanoparticles on the vortex glassy and liquid phase in (Y,Gd)Ba 2 Cu 3 O y coated conductors journal January 2013
Strongly enhanced current densities in superconducting coated conductors of YBa2Cu3O7–x + BaZrO3 journal May 2004
Mixed pinning landscape in nanoparticle-introduced YGdBa2Cu3Oy films grown by metal organic deposition journal May 2011
Flux pinning and forced vortex entanglement by splayed columnar defects journal November 1993
Disorder raises the critical temperature of a cuprate superconductor journal May 2019
J e (4.2 K, 31.2 T) beyond 1 kA/mm2 of a ~3.2 μm thick, 20 mol% Zr-added MOCVD REBCO coated conductor journal July 2017
Tuning nanoparticle size for enhanced functionality in perovskite thin films deposited by metal organic deposition journal November 2017
Tuning the response of YBCO microwave resonators by heavy-ion patterned micro-channels journal September 2012
Neutron-irradiation effects on critical current densities in single-crystalline YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 δ journal February 1991
Vortex pinning and creep in high-temperature superconductors with columnar defects journal July 1997
Synergetic combination of different types of defect to optimize pinning landscape using BaZrO3-doped YBa2Cu3O7 journal April 2009
Strongly enhanced vortex pinning from 4 to 77 K in magnetic fields up to 31 T in 15 mol.% Zr-added (Gd, Y)-Ba-Cu-O superconducting tapes journal April 2014
Vortices in high-temperature superconductors journal October 1994
Decoupling and tuning competing effects of different types of defects on flux creep in irradiated YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7− δ coated conductors journal November 2016
High critical currents in heavily doped (Gd,Y)Ba2Cu3Ox superconductor tapes journal January 2015
Competition and cooperation of pinning by extrinsic point-like defects and intrinsic strong columnar defects in BaFe 2 As 2 thin films journal September 2012
The Development of Second Generation HTS Wire at American Superconductor journal June 2009
Enhanced critical magnetization currents due to fast neutron irradiation in single-crystal YBa2Cu3O7δ journal November 1987
Magnetic relaxation in high-temperature superconductors journal July 1996
Structure and properties of irradiation defects in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−x journal October 1999
High-temperature change of the creep rate in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 δ films with different pinning landscapes journal May 2012
Second Generation Wire Development at AMSC journal January 2013
Universality in the current decay and flux creep of Y-Ba-Cu-O high-temperature superconductors journal October 1990
Will doubling magnetic field strength halve the time to fusion energy? journal August 2018
Materials science challenges for high-temperature superconducting wire journal September 2007
Production and identification of flux-pinning defects by electron irradiation in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 x single crystals journal May 1992
Theory of collective flux creep journal November 1989
Superfast Vortex Creep in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 δ Crystals with Columnar Defects: Evidence for Variable-Range Vortex Hopping journal April 1997
Progress in the Development of a Superconducting 32 T Magnet With REBCO High Field Coils journal June 2014
Hard Superconductivity: Theory of the Motion of Abrikosov Flux Lines journal January 1964
Structures and effects of radiation damage in cuprate superconductors irradiated with several-hundred-MeV heavy ions journal September 1993
Progresses and challenges in the development of high-field solenoidal magnets based on RE123 coated conductors journal September 2014
Epitaxial nanostructure and defects effective for pinning in Y(RE)Ba2Cu3O7−x coated conductors journal September 2005
Strong isotropic flux pinning in solution-derived YBa2Cu3O7−x nanocomposite superconductor films journal April 2007
Vortex pinning by compound defects in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 δ journal July 2010
Magnetization of High-Field Superconductors journal January 1964
Universal lower limit on vortex creep in superconductors journal February 2017
Vortices in high-performance high-temperature superconductors journal September 2016
Defect independence of the irreversibility line in proton-irradiated Y-Ba-Cu-O crystals journal August 1990
Boson localization and pinning by correlated disorder in high-temperature superconductors journal April 1992
Effect of 5.3-GeV Pb-ion irradiation on irreversible magnetization in Y-Ba-Cu-O crystals journal October 1991
Rapid doubling of the critical current of YBa2Cu3O7−δ coated conductors for viable high-speed industrial processing journal November 2015
Optimization of vortex pinning by nanoparticles using simulations of the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau model journal February 2016
Critical current density above 15 MA cm −2 at 30 K, 3 T in 2.2 μ m thick heavily-doped (Gd,Y)Ba 2 Cu 3 O x superconductor tapes journal May 2015
Critical currents in proton‐irradiated single‐crystal Ba 2 YCu 3 O 7−δ journal June 1990
Vortex confinement by columnar defects in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 crystals: Enhanced pinning at high fields and temperatures journal July 1991
Metalorganic Deposition of YBCO Films for Second-Generation High-Temperature Superconductor Wires journal August 2004
Vortex-glass superconductivity: A possible new phase in bulk high- T c oxides journal March 1989
Second-Generation High-Temperature Superconductor Wires for the Electric Power Grid journal August 2012
Observation and mechanism of local oxygen reordering induced by high-energy heavy-ion ( U + , Au + , Xe + ) irradiation in the high- T c superconductor YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 δ journal March 1998
Nonglassy relaxation by double kinks in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 δ with columnar defects journal March 2000
Coated conductors for power applications: materials challenges journal March 2014
Upward shift of the vortex solid phase in high-temperature-superconducting wires through high density nanoparticle addition journal February 2016
Advances in second generation high temperature superconducting wire manufacturing and R&D at American Superconductor Corporation journal December 2009
Reducing vortex motion in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 crystals with splay in columnar defects journal August 1994
Structure and flux pinning properties of irradiation defects in YBa2Cu3O7-x journal January 1993
Advances in understanding of swift heavy-ion tracks in complex ceramics journal February 2015
Enhancement of the irreversibility line in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 6.95 single crystals patterned by heavy ion lithography journal June 2008
Engineered Pinning Landscapes for Enhanced 2G Coil Wire journal April 2016
Strong-pinning regimes by spherical inclusions in anisotropic type-II superconductors journal November 2017
Progress in Nanoengineered Microstructures for Tunable High-Current, High-Temperature Superconducting Wires journal February 2008
Fabrication of BaHfO 3 doped Gd 1 Ba 2 Cu 3 O 7−δ coated conductors with the high I c of 85 A/cm-w under 3 T at liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K) journal May 2012
Over 15 MA/cm2 of critical current density in 4.8 µm thick, Zr-doped (Gd,Y)Ba2Cu3Ox superconductor at 30 K, 3T journal May 2018
Irradiation Response of Next Generation High Temperature Superconductors for Fusion Energy Applications journal August 2014
High-field critical current enhancement by irradiation induced correlated and random defects in (Ba 0.6 K 0.4 )Fe 2 As 2 journal November 2013
Accommodation of vortices to columnar defects: Evidence for large entropic reduction of vortex localization journal May 1996
Doubling the critical current density of high temperature superconducting coated conductors through proton irradiation journal September 2013
Swift heavy ions in insulating and conducting oxides: tracks and physical properties journal June 1994
Toward Superconducting Critical Current by Design journal March 2016
Ultra-high flux pinning properties of BaMO 3 -doped YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7− x thin films (M = Zr, Sn) journal February 2008
Addition of nanoparticle dispersions to enhance flux pinning of the YBa2Cu3O7-x superconductor journal August 2004
Overview of Materials and Power Applications of Coated Conductors Project journal December 2011
Simulation of the Vortex Dynamics in a Real Pinning Landscape of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 δ Coated Conductors journal January 2016