ACTA

Nanostructural Superconducting Materials for Fault Current Limiters and Cryogenic Electrical Machines

T.A. Prikhna^a, W. Gawalek^b, Ya.M. Savchuk^a, N.V. Sergienko^a, V.E. Moshchil^a, V. Sokolovsky^c, J. Vajda^d, V.N. Tkach^a, F. Karau^e, H. Weber^f, M. Eisterer^f, A. Joulain^g, J. Rabier^g, X. Chaud^h, M. Wendt^b, J. Dellith^b, N.I. Danilenko^k, T. Habisreuther^b, S.N. Dub^a, V. Meerovich^c, D. Litzkendorf^b, P.A. Nagorny^a, L.K. Kovalev^l, Ch. Schmidt^b, V.S. Melnikov^a, A.P. Shapovalov^a, A.V. Kozyrev^a, V.B. Sverdun^a, J. Kosa^d, and A.V. Vlasenko^a
^aInstitute for Superhard Materials of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2 Avtozavodskaya St., Kiev, 04074, Ukraine
^bInstitut für Photonische Technologien, Albert-Einstein-Str. 9, Jena, 07745, Germany
^cBen-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
^dBudapest University of Technology and Economics, Egry Jozsef u. 18, 1111 Budapest, Hungary
^eH.C. Starck GmbH, Goslar 38642, Germany
^fAtomic Institute of the Austrian Universities, 1020 Vienna, Austria
^gUniversité de Poitiers, CNRS/Laboratoire PHYMAT, UMR 6630 CNRS-Université de Poitiers SP2MI
^hCNRS/CRETA Grenoble, 38042, CEDEX 9, France
^lInstitute for Problems of Material Science of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
^kMoscow State Aviation Institute (Technical University), Volokolamskoe Shosse, 4, 125993 Moscow, Russia

Full Text PDF

Materials of the Y-Ba-Cu-O (melt-textured YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ-based materials or MT-YBCO) and Mg-B-O (MgB₂-based materials) systems with high superconducting performance, which can be attained due to the formation of regularly distributed nanostructural defects and inhomogeneities in their structure can be effectively used in cryogenic technique, in particular in fault current limiters and electrical machines (electromotors, generators, pumps for liquid gases, etc.). The developed processes of high-temperature (900-800 °C) oxygenation under elevated pressure (16 MPa) of MT-YBCO and high-pressure (2 GPa) synthesis of MgB₂-based materials allowed us to attain high superconductive (critical current densities, upper critical fields, fields of irreversibility, trapped magnetic fields) and mechanical (hardness, fracture toughness, Young modulus) characteristics. It has been shown that the effect of materials properties improvement in the case of MT-YBCO was attained due to the formation of high twin density (20-22 μm^-1), prevention of macrocracking and reduction (by a factor of 4.5) of microcrack density, and in the case of MgB₂-based materials due to the formation of oxygen-enriched as compared to the matrix phase fine-dispersed Mg-B-O inhomogeneities as well as inclusions of higher borides with near-MgB₁₂ stoichiometry in the Mg-B-O matrix (with 15-37 nm average grain sizes). The possibility is shown to obtain the rather high T_c (37 K) and critical current densities in materials with MgB₁₂ matrix (with 95% of shielding fraction as calculated from the resistant curve).

DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.117.7
PACS numbers: 74.25.Sv, 74.81.Bd, 74.70.Ad, 74.78.Na, 74.62.Fj, 74.25.Ld, 74.62.Dh, 74.25.Ha