Mastering the production of new superconducting materials

Previous achievements in the development of niobium, titanium, copper and nickel alloys give reason to hope that eventually it will be possible to obtain superconducting alloys with the desired properties.


Mastering the production of industrial products (massive profile samples, wires, tapes and thin films) is also a difficult task. Films for use in electronics are produced by spraying a thin layer of a substance onto a substrate, such as magnesium oxide, in a vacuum chamber. The film is then usually annealed (reheated and slowly cooled) to saturate it with oxygen. Each change in the manufacturing process strongly affects the properties of the final product. Film samples have better superconducting properties compared to massive ones. Many laboratories have produced films that transmit a current of 10^6 A/cm2. Some researchers consider films as the main material for the production of conductors with high current carrying capacity, believing that they can be rolled up like paper.


Tapes and wires are made by casting a plastic mass of superconducting powder. The mixture is either poured onto a flat surface to produce a ribbon, or squeezed through a matrix in the form of a wire. Then the material is annealed. This technology makes it possible to obtain a superconducting wire capable of passing current at a temperature of liquid nitrogen. Unfortunately, the wires turn out to be fragile. But there is hope that the properties of superconducting materials can be improved, as was the case, for example, with glass, which can be brittle, like window glass, but can also be flexible, like fiberglass in a fiber optic.


It is possible that the search along this path will be as difficult as the discovery of new superconductors itself. It will take at least a decade of hard work to obtain industrial designs — the time during which experienced scientists will engage in research in new fields and young scientists will have time to get an education and start scientific research. Leading scientists working in Japanese industries intend to create long-term programs, and four American companies (AT&Roll Laboratories, Bellcore, du Pont, and IBM) are conducting comprehensive research in the field under consideration. Even more researchers in various companies, national laboratories and universities, specialists in the fields of physics, chemistry, electronics and materials science will have to make every effort and skill to ensure that high-temperature superconductors meet our expectations. प्रोमो कोड 1xbet