ENHANCEMENT OF CRITICAL CURRENT DENSITY IN HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTING CERAMIC WIRE THROUGH HOT-EXTRUSION INDUCED TEXTURE

THIS PROJECT WILL INVESTIGATE THE FEASIBILITY OF OBTAINING USEFUL TEXTURE IN HIGH CRITICAL TEMPERATURE (T(C)) YBA(2)CU(3)O(7)-X SUPERCONDUCTING COMPOUNDS THROUGH ISOTHERMAL HOT EXTRUSION OF FINE GRAIN POWDER COMPACTS IN THE FORM OF A DENSE WIRE. THE CRITICAL TEMPERATURE AND THE CRITICAL CURRENT DENSITY WILL BE MEASURED AND CORRELATED WITH THE TEXTURE OF THE WIRES. THE INFORMATION WILL BE ASSEMBLED IN THE FORM OF A PROCESSING MAP WHERE THE EXTRUSION REDUCTION RATIO AND THE STRAIN RATE ARE REPRESENTED AS THE AXES, AND IN THE MAP THE REGIME WHERE SATISFACTORY CRITICAL CURRENT DENSITY IS OBTAINED WILL BE SEPARATED FROM THE REGIME WHERE THE CRITICAL CURRENT DENSITYIS INADEQUATE. THE GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO FABRICATE WIRES OF THE SUPERCONDUCTING CERAMIC WITH A CURRENT CARRYINGCAPABILITY OF 10(5)A/CM(2) AT ZERO RESISTANCE AND TEMPERATURES ABOVE THAT OF LIQUID NITROGEN. ANTICIPATED RESULTS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS AS DESCRIBED BY THE AWARDEE: THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS FROM THE ACHIEVEMENT OF HIGH CRITICAL CURRENT DENSITIES IN THE HIGH T(C) SUPERCONDUCTING WIRES ARE WELL RECOGNIZED IN THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY. IT CAN OPEN DOORS TO NUMEROUS LARGE SCALE COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS SUCH AS MAGNETS, POWER GENERATION, POWER DISTRIBUTION, ACCELERATORS, LEVITATION AND TRANSPORTATION, AND TO SMALL APPLICATIONS SUCH AS ELECTRONICDEVICES.