With the discovery of its superconducting properties in 2001, MgB2 is the latest superconductor for use in large scale applications such as superconducting magnets.\ud
Compared to other metallic superconductors like Nb-Ti and Nb3Sn, it has the\ud
advantage of a higher Tc (40 K), which enables magnets to operate at higher temperatures (» 20 K) and cuts down cooling costs. Compared to high-Tc conductors such as YBa2Cu3Ox and Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3Ox on the other hand, it is a relatively simple compound and therefore easier to synthesise. Together with the abundance of magnesium and boron, this causes its presently estimated cost-to-performance ratio to be a factor of » 100 lower than that of high-Tc conductors
