To Crack or Not to Crack: Strain in High TemperatureSuperconductors
Round wire Bi 2212 is emerging as a viable successor ofNb3Sn in High Energy Physics and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, to generatemagnetic fields that surpass the intrinsic limitations of Nb3Sn. Ratherbold claims are made on achievable magnetic fields in applications usingBi 2212, due to the materials' estimated critical magnetic field of 100 Tor higher. High transport currents in high magnetic fields, however, leadto large stress on, and resulting large strain in the superconductor. Theeffect of strain on the critical properties of Bi-2212 is far fromunderstood, and strain is, as with Nb3Sn, often treated as a secondaryparameter in the design of superconducting magnets. Reversibility of thestrain induced change of the critical surface of Nb3Sn, points to anelectronic origin of the observed strain dependence. Record breaking highfield magnets are enabled by virtue of such reversible behavior. Straineffects on the critical surface of Bi-2212, in contrast, are mainlyirreversible and suggest a non-electronic origin of the observed straindependence, which appears to be dominated by the formation of cracks inthe superconductor volumes. A review is presented of available results onthe effects of strain on the critical surface of Bi-2212, Bi-2223 andYBCO. It is shown how a generic behavior emerges for the (axial) straindependence of the critical current density, and how the irreversiblereduction of the critical current density is dominated by strain inducedcrack formation in the superconductor. From this generic model it becomesclear that magnets using high temperature superconductors will be strainlimited far before the intrinsic magnetic field limitations will beapproached, or possibly even before the magnetic field limitation ofNb3Sn can be surpassed. On a positive note, in a very promising recentresult from NIST on the axial strain dependence of the critical currentdensity in extremely well aligned YBCO, reversible behavior was observed.This result emphasizes the need for further conductor development,specifically for round wire Bi-2212, to generate a wire with a similarreversible dependence on strain. Availability of such a wire will enablethe construction of magnets that can indeed generate fields that farsurpass the limitations of Nb3Sn superconductors.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Director. Office of Science. High EnergyPhysics
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 928889
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-63620; R&D Project: Z5MHTS; BnR: KA1502011; TRN: US0803278
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 5th Annual Workshop on Mechanical andElectromagnetic Properties of Composite Superconductors MEM '07,Princeton, NJ, USA, August 21-24, 2007
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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