Development of Artificial Pinning Center NbTiTa Conductor for High Field Applications

41160 Supercon, Inc. In this project, a new approach to superconductor fabrication will be investigated. The approach uses expanded tantalum mesh, rather than continuous tantalum foil, in combination with pure titanium and pure niobium sheets. It is anticipated that the tantalum mesh will result in composites displaying excellent superconductivity characteristics. Three composites will be fabricated using tantalum mesh. The three composites will have tantalum compositions in their layers of 15, 20, and 25 weight percent, respectively. A standard binary composite will also be fabricated as a control. Processing of the composites will involve heat treatment to promote superconducting alloy formation. Comparisons will be made between the composites in the areas of mechanical properties, diffusion characteristics, layer morphology, critical current density, and upper critical field. The knowledge gained in Phase I will lay the groundwork for optimization and scale-up in Phase II. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The effort should result in a viable, economical fabrication of an improved superconductor displaying performance characteristics superior to conventional conductors. Such a conductor will find immediate application in magnets for high energy particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider. Any commercial applications requiring high field performance such as nuclear magnetic resonance, would also find the conductor attractive.