Superconducting materials: a review of recent advances and current problems in practical materials

Conference · Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1981 · IEEE Trans. Magn.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6531384

Larbalestier, D C

In the past four years there has been an increase in the breadth and scale of superconducting magnet construction. Advances have been pursued out of the laboratory into large scale construction so that today the authors see large scale magnets utilizing He I in free convection boiling, He I in conduit (force flow) and He II. Whereas four years ago filamentary Nb/sub 3/Sn had only just become available in magnet conductor configurations and lengths, now it is being produced in quantity for large projects. The discontinuous route to filamentary Nb/sub 3/Sn has received much laboratory investigation and may soon be available for industrial production. Studies of Nb/sub 3/Sn and other A15 compounds have shown that improvements in J/sub c/ and H/sub c2/ are possible. There have also been substantial developments in Nb-Ti. Production has increased significantly and experience with large scale production has assisted the development of higher J/sub c/ values in both the small diameter, fine filament conductors typical of high energy physics magnets as well as the large monolith, large filament conductors utilized for MHD and fusion applications. Microstructural-processing studies reveal some crucial steps in the optimization of conductors of arbitrary size and design. It has proved possible to raise the upper critical field of Nb-Ti by alloying, particularly with Ta, and these alloys may find application in magnets of 8-12 for fusion new higher energy accelerators and NMR. This paper reviews these and other important developments in the field of practical superconducting materials. 85 refs.

• Research Organization: Univ of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
• OSTI ID: 6531384
• Report Number(s): CONF-810340-
• Journal Information: IEEE Trans. Magn.; (United States), Vol. MAG-17:5; Conference: 7. international conference on magnet technology, Karlsrube, F.R. Germany, 30 Mar 1981
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
SUPERCONDUCTING COMPOSITES
REVIEWS
SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNETS
MATERIALS
BIBLIOGRAPHIES
CONSTRUCTION
CRITICAL CURRENT
CRITICAL FIELD
CURRENT DENSITY
FABRICATION
NIOBIUM ALLOYS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SCALING LAWS
SPECIFICATIONS
STANDARDS
STRAINS
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
TITANIUM ALLOYS
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE
ALLOYS
COMPOSITE MATERIALS
CURRENTS
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
ELECTROMAGNETS
EQUIPMENT
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETS
SUPERCONDUCTING DEVICES
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
420201* - Engineering- Cryogenic Equipment & Devices
360104 - Metals & Alloys- Physical Properties