Thermal conductivity and stability of commercial MgB2_2 conductors

This paper presents a study of the thermal transport properties of MgB$_2$ tapes differing in architecture, stabilization and constituent materials. The temperature and field dependence of thermal conductivity, $\kappa(T,B)$, was investigated both along the conductor and in the direction perpendicular to the tape. These data provide fundamental input parameters to describe the 3D heat diffusion process in a winding. Thermal transport properties - even in field - are typically deduced using semi-empirical formulas based on the residual resistivity ratio of the stabilizer measured in absence of magnetic field. The accuracy of these procedures was evaluated comparing the calculated $\kappa$ values with the measured ones. Based on the experimental thermal conduction properties $\kappa(T,B)$ and critical current surface $J_C(T,B)$ we determined the dependence of minimum quench energy and normal zone propagation velocity on the operating parameters of the conductor. The correlation between thermal properties and tape layout allowed us to provide information on how to optimize the thermal stability of MgB$_2$ conductors.Comment: Accepted for publication in Superconductor Science and Technolog

A review of ordering phenomena in iron-silicon steels

Silicon steel is an industrially-desired alloy of iron and silicon, characterised by soft magnetic properties, low eddy-current losses, and low magnetostriction. Silicon steels have narrow hysteresis cycles, making them particularly advantageous in applications using electromagnetic fields, such as transformers, generators, electric motor cores, and few other components in industry. Despite its incontestable industrial value, there is not much agreement on the atomic structure of silicon steel. Gaining better understanding of e.g. ordering processes in Fe-Si alloys could not only explain their magnetic properties, but also open opportunities to reduce their weaker characteristics, such as brittleness that adversely affects silicon steel workability and its associated high production costs. This review summarises the state-of-the-art knowledge about ordering in silicon steel and describes the most relevant experimental techniques used for studying its microstructure. In addition, the process of building the iron rich part of the Fe-Si phase diagram is explained. Lastly, the influence of order on the alloy's magnetic and mechanical properties is illustrated

Electro-mechanical properties of REBCO coated conductors from various industrial manufacturers at 77 K, self-field and 4.2 K, 19 T

Rare-earth-barium-copper-oxide (REBCO) tapes are now available from several industrial manufacturers and are very promising conductors in high field applications. Due to diverging materials and deposition processes, these manufacturers' tapes can be expected to differ in their electro-mechanical and mechanical properties. For magnets designers, these are together with the conductors' in-field critical current performance of the highest importance in choosing a suitable conductor. In this work, the strain and stress dependence of the current carrying capabilities as well as the stress and strain correlation are investigated for commercial coated conductors from Bruker HTS, Fujikura, SuNAM, SuperOx and SuperPower at 77 K, self-field and 4.2 K, 19 T

Temperature- and Field Dependent Characterization of a Twisted Stacked-Tape Cable

The Twisted Stacked-Tape Cable (TSTC) is one of the major high temperature superconductor cable concepts combining scalability, ease of fabrication and high current density making it a possible candidate as conductor for large scale magnets. To simulate the boundary conditions of such a magnets as well as the temperature dependence of Twisted Stacked-Tape Cables a 1.16 m long sample consisting of 40, 4 mm wide SuperPower REBCO tapes is characterized using the "FBI" (force - field - current) superconductor test facility of the Institute for Technical Physics (ITEP) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). In a first step, the magnetic background field is cycled while measuring the current carrying capabilities to determine the impact of Lorentz forces on the TSTC sample performance. In the first field cycle, the critical current of the TSTC sample is tested up to 12 T. A significant Lorentz force of up to 65.6 kN/m at the maximal magnetic background field of 12 T result in a 11.8 % irreversible degradation of the current carrying capabilities. The degradation saturates (critical cable current of 5.46 kA at 4.2 K and 12 T background field) and does not increase in following field cycles. In a second step, the sample is characterized at different background fields (4-12 T) and surface temperatures (4.2-37.8 K) utilizing the variable temperature insert of the "FBI" test facility. In a third step, the performance along the length of the sample is determined at 77 K, self-field. A 15 % degradation is obtained for the central part of the sample which was within the high field region of the magnet during the in-field measurements

Permanent magnets including undulators and wigglers

After a few historic remarks on magnetic materials we introduce the basic definitions related to permanent magnets. The magnetic properties of the most common materials are reviewed and the production processes are described. Measurement techniques for the characterization of macroscopic and microscopic properties of permanent magnets are presented. Field simulation techniques for permanent magnet devices are discussed. Today, permanent magnets are used in many fields. This article concentrates on the applications of permanent magnets in accelerators starting from dipoles and quadrupoles on to wigglers and undulators.Comment: 45 pages, presented at the CERN Accelerator School CAS 2009: Specialised Course on Magnets, Bruges, 16-25 June 200

A Trapped Field of 17.6 T in Melt-Processed, Bulk Gd-Ba-Cu-O Reinforced with Shrink-Fit Steel

The ability of large grain, REBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-\delta}$ [(RE)BCO; RE = rare earth] bulk superconductors to trap magnetic field is determined by their critical current. With high trapped fields, however, bulk samples are subject to a relatively large Lorentz force, and their performance is limited primarily by their tensile strength. Consequently, sample reinforcement is the key to performance improvement in these technologically important materials. In this work, we report a trapped field of 17.6 T, the largest reported to date, in a stack of two, silver-doped GdBCO superconducting bulk samples, each of diameter 25 mm, fabricated by top-seeded melt growth (TSMG) and reinforced with shrink-fit stainless steel. This sample preparation technique has the advantage of being relatively straightforward and inexpensive to implement and offers the prospect of easy access to portable, high magnetic fields without any requirement for a sustaining current source.Comment: Updated submission to reflect licence change to CC-BY. This is the "author accepted manuscript" and is identical in content to the published versio

Development of EMAT and piezoelectric transducers for high temperature ultrasonic thickness measurements

Improving reliability of components operating at high temperature, such as pipelines, boilers and reactors, within a range of industries is of importance in the asset management process. This thesis concerns the development and testing of ultrasound transducers for use at elevated temperatures, up to 500 _C, without the use of active cooling. Ultrasound thickness measurement applications employing these high temperature transducers includes both portable-type non-destructive testing (NDT) inspections and permanent condition monitoring, primarily towards detection of corrosion and erosion. The development and optimisation of an electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) design which generates and detects bulk radially polarised shear waves utilising a high temperature permanent magnet and a ceramic encapsulated spiral coil is discussed. This design was optimised for use on magnetite coated mild steel samples; it was shown that the magnetostriction mechanism tends to dominate, depending upon sample properties, producing large signals even at elevated temperatures. High temperature laboratory trials (up to 500 oC) demonstrated the non-linear change in signal amplitude with increasing temperature on magnetite coated mild steel samples, attributed to the complex non-linear relationship between magnetostrictive strains and applied external magnetic field. The EMAT provided good signal amplitude, even at relatively large sample-EMAT lift-off (up to 8.0 mm), demonstrating the applicability of this EMAT for high temperature scanning inspections. A longterm industrial field trial on a high temperature pipeline (≈ 350 oC) in a refinery exhibited the suitability of this design for high temperature continuous monitoring applications. A piezoelectric transducer with a novel compression-type design was optimised for application at high temperature, with the use of a waveguide, high temperature piezoelectric element and high temperature backing material; the optimisation of these components is discussed. This transducer design incorporates compression applied via a central bolt, to achieve acoustic coupling between the components, avoiding the use of adhesive layers, to generate bulk longitudinal waves. With the application of a bismuth titanate piezoelectric element, the transducer was able to generate signals on stainless steel whilst withstanding high temperatures (up to 500 oC) continuously without cooling

Unconventional magnetism in all-carbon nanofoam

We report production of nanostructured carbon foam by a high-repetition-rate, high-power laser ablation of glassy carbon in Ar atmosphere. A combination of characterization techniques revealed that the system contains both sp2 and sp3 bonded carbon atoms. The material is a novel form of carbon in which graphite-like sheets fill space at very low density due to strong hyperbolic curvature, as proposed for ?schwarzite?. The foam exhibits ferromagnetic-like behaviour up to 90 K, with a narrow hysteresis curve and a high saturation magnetization. Such magnetic properties are very unusual for a carbon allotrope. Detailed analysis excludes impurities as the origin of the magnetic signal. We postulate that localized unpaired spins occur because of topological and bonding defects associated with the sheet curvature, and that these spins are stabilized due to the steric protection offered by the convoluted sheets.Comment: 14 pages, including 2 tables and 7 figs. Submitted to Phys Rev B 10 September 200

High-field thermal transport properties of REBCO coated conductors

The use of REBCO coated conductors is envisaged for many applications, extending from power cables to high-field magnets. Whatever the case, thermal properties of REBCO tapes play a key role for the stability of superconducting devices. In this work, we present the first study on the longitudinal thermal conductivity ($\kappa$) of REBCO coated conductors in magnetic fields up to 19 T applied both parallelly and perpendicularly to the thermal-current direction. Copper-stabilized tapes from six industrial manufacturers have been investigated. We show that zero-field $\kappa$ of coated conductors can be calculated with an accuracy of $\pm 15$ from the residual resistivity ratio of the stabilizer and the Cu/non-Cu ratio. Measurements performed at high fields have allowed us to evaluate the consistency of the procedures generally used for estimating in-field $\kappa$ in the framework of the Wiedemann-Franz law from an electrical characterization of the materials. In-field data are intended to provide primary ingredients for the thermal stability analysis of high-temperature superconductor-based magnets.Comment: Accepted for publication in Superconductor Science and Technolog