Phase 1 Final Technical Report - MgB2 Synthesis for High Field Performance
Accelerator Technology Corp. (ATC) has successfully completed its Phase 1 effort to devel-op rf plasma torch synthesis of MgB2 superconducting powder. The overall objective is to de-velop a way to introduce homogeneous alloying of C and SiC impurities into phase-pure MgB2. Several groups have attained remarkable benefits from such alloying in raising the upper critical field Hc2 from ~14 T to ~30 T (bulk) and ~50 T (thin films). But no one has succeeded in pro-ducing that benefit homogeneously, so that current transport in a practical powder-in-tube (PIT) conductor is largely the same as without the alloying. ATC has conceived the possibility of attaining such homogeneity by passing aerosol suspen-sions of reactant powders through an rf plasma torch, with each reactant transported on a stream-line that heats it to an optimum temperature for the synthesis reaction. This procedure would uniquely access non-equilibrium kinetics for the synthesis reaction, and would provide the possi-bility to separately control the temperature and stoichiometry of each reactant as it enters the mixing region where synthesis occurs. It also facilitates the introduction of seed particles (e.g. nanoscale SiC) to dramatically enhance the rate of the synthesis reaction compared to gas-phase synthesis in rf plasma reported by Canfield and others. During the Phase 1 effort ATC commissioned its 60 kW 5 MHz rf source for a manufactur-ing-scale rf plasma torch. This effort required repair of numerous elements, integration of cooling and input circuits, and tuning of the load characteristics. The effort was successful, and the source has now been tested to ~full power. Also in the Phase 1 effort we encountered a subsidiary but very important problem: the world is running out of the only present supply of phase-pure amorphous boron. The starting boron powder must be in the amorphous phase in order for the synthesis reaction to produce phase-pure MgB2. Even small contamination with crystalline boron results in the formation of parasitic phases such as MgB4, MgB7, etc. Such parasitic phases are a primary element of the connectivity problem, in which even though a sample powder may contain grains of high-quality MgB2, adjacent grains are surrounded by intergrowths of parasitic phases so that current trans-port is badly degraded. The best results to date have been obtained using boron powder produced long ago for a rocket propellant development project. The synthesis process was complex and is now largely lost, and the manufacturing equipment has long since been scrapped. The last batch of the powder has been used during recent years to support MgB2 R&D at several labs, but supplies are dwindling. ATC has identified a first application of its plasma torch to synthesize phase-pure amorphous boron flake using a rapid-quench splat technique. Inexpensive technical-grade boron would be purified of contaminants, then dispersed as an aerosol in inert gas and passed through the plasma torch to melt it into a spray. The spray would be splat-condensed on a rotating drum to form pure amorphous flake. The process would begin with technical-grade boron powder, having good stoichiometric purity, nanoscale particles, but significant contamination of MgO and crystalline boron. We used wet chemistry to remove B2O3 completely and reduced the MgO impurity, and analyzed the particle size distribution using a Coulter counter and the phase composition using X-ray diffrac-tion (XRD). The next step will be to build an rf plasma torch with a recirculating single-component aerosol feed and the cooled splat drum and collector, and undertake process devel-opment for amorphous boron powder. This revised goal has two benefits. First, it is an easier technology than our ultimate goal of a multi-component laminar flow torch. We have been counseled by those experienced in plasma torch technology that our ultimate goal will require a torch that should be feasible but has never been attempted. It may require an extended period of R&D for both the torch itself and the gas dynamics in the reaction region. Second, this simpler single-component process will yield a product powder that is important today for the many groups undertaking powder-metallurgy routes to MgB2. The above success and learning curve has brought us to a significant shift of strategy from what was originally set out in the Phase 1 plan. But this shift has brought us to within sight of a powder product that will itself be an enabling boost for the community of MgB2 developers.
- Research Organization:
- Accelerator Technology Corp.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-07ER84908
- OSTI ID:
- 966981
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ER/84908-1; TRN: US1000946
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
25 ENERGY STORAGE
ACCELERATORS
AEROSOLS
BORON
CHEMISTRY
CONTAMINATION
CRITICAL FIELD
IMPURITIES
KINETICS
LAMINAR FLOW
LEARNING
LOAD ANALYSIS
MANUFACTURING
PARTICLE SIZE
POWDER METALLURGY
REPAIR
ROCKETS
SEEDS
STOICHIOMETRY
SYNTHESIS
TRANSPORT
TUNING
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
superconductor
MgB2
plasma torch
aerosol
non-equilibrium-phase
synthesis