Possibility of material cost reduction toward development of low-cost second-generation superconducting wires

Abstract

Two approaches to reducing the material cost of second-generation superconducting wires are proposed in this paper: (1) instead of the electrical stabilizing layers of silver and copper presently used on the superconducting layer, a Nb-doped SrTiO3 conductive buffer layer and cube-textured Cu are proposed as an advanced architecture, and (2) the use of an electromagnetic (EM) steel tape as a metal substrate of coated conductors in a conventional architecture. In structures fabricated without using electrical stabilizing layers on the superconducting layer, the critical current density achieved at 77 K in a self-field was approximately 2.6 MA/cm2. On the other hand, in the case of using EM steel tapes, although the critical current density was far from practical at the current stage, the biaxial alignment of YBa2Cu3Oy (YBCO) and buffer layers was realized without oxidation on the metal surface. In this study, the possibility of material cost reduction has been strongly indicated toward the development of low-cost second-generation superconducting wires in the near future.

A review of commercial high temperature superconducting materials for large magnets: from wires and tapes to cables and conductors

“…So much effort went in the development of REBCO coated conductors because they were expected to be a cheaper alternative to Bi2223 tapes (there is no expensive Ag matrix in coated conductors); AMSC [47] developed coated conductor maintaining the same cross section of Bi2223 tapes in order to facilitate the replacement in electro-technical devices without need to modify the winding equipment and radically change the design. Today, a decade after the introduction of commercial coated conductors and despite advancements in performance and manufacturing, the promise of cheap tape is unfulfilled, but still pursued [48]. One of the reasons for the high price seems to be the low manufacturing yield.…”

Design and test of a new two-stage control scheme for SMES-battery hybrid energy storage systems for microgrid applications

“…The cos t of SMES s ystems is dra matically reducing with the development i n ma terials research [19,20]. Some studies show the positive s ide of the cost-benefit analysis of SMES systems [21,22].…”

Unusually Small Thermal Expansion of Ordered Perovskite Oxide CaCu3Ru4O12 with High Conductivity

“…Currently, in order to use the heat resistance and functions of ceramic materials, devices containing heterogeneous ceramics with ceramic/ceramic or metal/ceramic interfaces have been actively developed using cofiring [1,2], printing [3,4], and coating [5,6,7,8,9,10] processes in various industrials fields, including energy [11,12,13], automotive [14,15], and healthcare [16,17]. Since the target ceramic materials are rarely well-sintered at the desired position when sintered with other materials, the thermal expansion needs to be tailored by optimizing the process, adding complementary materials, or controlling the composition of the ceramic [18,19].…”