Speaker
Description
Over the past 2 decades, the high-temperature superconductors REBCO (RE1Ba2Cu3O7-x where RE is a Rare Earth element or yttrium) and Bi-2212 (Bi2Sr2CaCu2O10) have been developed into reliable conductor for magnet technology operating above 15 T and as possible “dry” magnets with limited amounts of liquid cryogens. Fusion applications have recently invested approximately $400 million in the acquisition of hundreds of tons of REBCO, propelling a massive scale-up of the conductor manufacturing industry. Yet, no manufacturing process is fully tailored to a high-field magnet specification, leading to compromises and trade-offs for magnet designs and conductor acquisition. At the MagLab, efforts to build ultra-high field magnets in the 30-50 T range motivate conductor specifications with a rather lengthy list of requirements. This presentation will overview the specifications, the associated quality plan, and examine conductors from several manufacturers being considered as suppliers. Bi-2212 conductors are available as round wires with small filament diameter, which facilitates high homogeneity of magnetic field and low AC loss. This presentation will look at the efforts under the Department of Energy Conductor Procurement and R&D program to advance the supply chain across several manufacturers, as well as prospects for future magnets at ~25 T for laboratory research and at 30 T and above for nuclear magnetic resonance.
