US creates world record-breaking highest-performance superconducting wire
At only 0.2 microns thickness, the superconductor wire carried currents typically achieved by HTS wires ten times thicker.
Researchers have created the highest-performing high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wire segment yet, with a much-improved price-performance ratio.
The wire operates at temperatures from -451 to -321 degrees Fahrenheit (-268 to -196 degrees Celsius), which is still extremely cold but higher than absolute zero temperatures that other superconducting materials work at. HTS wires could be critical components of our energy future as they can facilitate electricity transmission at zero resistance, and their applications range beyond loss-less power transmission to doubling power output from offshore wind farms, building superconducting magnetic energy storage systems, and other energy infrastructure.
HTS wires have also found applications in nuclear fusion reactors and next-generation imaging and spectroscopy techniques. However, their relatively warmer operating temperatures come with the disadvantage of being expensive to make.
The researchers at the University of Buffalo made a major advance by combining IBAD technology with nanocolumnar defects technology. The latter method uses simultaneous phase separation and strain-driven self-assembly, allowing insulating or superconducting materials to be incorporated into the superconductor. Nanoscaled defects introduced in this manner create superconducting vortices that allow higher supercurrents to flow.
The researchers used an advanced pulsed laser deposition system to make an HTS film on a rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) wire and conducted atomic-resolution microscopy for characterization of nanocolumnar and atomic-scale defects.
Performance of the HTS wire:
With their recent innovation, the researchers attained the highest critical current density and pinning force for all magnetic fields and temperatures from 5 to 77 Kelvin (-451 to -321 degrees Fahrenheit).
At 4.2 Kelvin, the wire demonstrated carriage of 190 million amps per square centimeter without any external magnetic field.
At 20 Kelvin, the wires carried 150 million amps per square centimeter self-field.
The noteworthy feature is the thickness of the HTS film, which was only 0.2 microns thick but carried currents typically achieved with an HTS wire ten times thicker.
With regards to pinning force, the wire could hold down forces as high as 6.4 teranewtons per cubic meter at 4.2 Kelvin and about 4.2 teranewton per cubic meter at 20 Kelvins when the external magnetic field was 7 Tesla.
Source: https://interestingengineering.com/science/superconducting-wire-performance-record-us