HIGH TC SUPERCONDUCTING TAPES

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY THAT ALLOWS FOR THE OPTIMIZATION OF THE MECHANICAL AND SUPERCONDUCTING PROPERTIES OF HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTORS IS CRUCIAL FOR THEIR IMPLEMENTATION IN ENERGY STORAGE DEVICES, MOTOR, GENERATORS, AND ELECTROMAGNETIC LAUNCHERS. STATE-OF-THE-ART PROCESSING NOW YIELDS HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCING MATERIALS WITH ENCOURAGING ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES, BUT WHOSE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES ARE CONSTRAINED BY THE BRITTLENESS OF THE CERAMIC OXIDE. THIS PROBLEM IS RETARDING THE USE OF THESE MATERIALS IN A WIDE VARIETY OF APPLICATIONS. THE PROPOSED SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM IS THE CONSOLIDATION OF EXISTING SMALL DIAMETER SUPERCONDUCTING FILAMENTS INTO A TAPE WHOSE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL STABILITY ARE FAR SUPERIOR TO THE FILAMENT ALONE. A PROCESS TO PREPARE THESE TAPES UTILIZING NOVEL MOCVD TECHNOLOGY AND PLASMA DEPOSITION HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED. IN PHASE I, UNIAXIALLY ALIGNED STATE-OF-THE-ART SUPERCONDUCTING FILAMENTS WILL BE HERMETICALLY SEALED AND THEN ENCAPSULATED WITH METAL TO FORM METAL MATRIX COMPOSITE TAPES. THESE TAPES WILL BE TESTED TO DETERMINE THEIR MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES. IN PHASE II CONTINUOUS PROCESSING WILL BE DEVELOPED AND THE RESULTING TAPES USED TO FABRICATEA MULTI-FILAMENT CONDUCTOR WHICH WILL BE EMPLOYED IN AN OPERATING PROTOTYPE DEVICE AND TESTED.