Role of Superconducting Materials in the Endeavor to Stop Climate Change and Reach Sustainable Development.
Muralidhar MiryalaA Sai SrikanthS PinmangkornM SantoshJ MilosPublished in: Journal of superconductivity and novel magnetism (2023)
Progress in the mass production of newly developed bulk (Gd 0.33 Y 0.13 Er 0.53 )Ba 2 Cu 3 O y "(Gd,Y,Er)123" and MgB 2 systems is presented. Two batches of (Gd,Y,Er)123 pellets of 20 mm diameter and 7 mm thick were prepared in air by an infiltration growth "IG" process. Trapped field distribution profiles of fully grown bulk samples clearly showed that all samples were single-grain and the trapped field values were more than 0.5 T at 77 K, 1.3 mm above top surface. The best bulk exhibited the trapped field value of 0.63 T at 77 K. Ultra-sonication technique was employed for refining precursors of both (Gd,Y,Er)211 and boron. TEM studies revealed that boron powder subjected to ultrasonication was refined up to nanoscale. The micron-sized particles were reduced to nanoscale, which led to improvement of critical current by up to 36% in bulk MgB 2 at 20 K and self-field. This progress in fabrication of high-performance LREBa 2 Cu 3 O y and MgB 2 superconducting bulks further promotes commercialization of superconductors' production as a mode of sustainable technology.