Role of Superconducting Materials in the Endeavor to Stop Climate Change and Reach Sustainable Development

M Muralidhar; A Sai Srikanth; S Pinmangkorn; M Santosh; J Milos

doi:10.1007/s10948-023-06515-6

Role of Superconducting Materials in the Endeavor to Stop Climate Change and Reach Sustainable Development

J Supercond Nov Magn. 2023;36(3):803-812. doi: 10.1007/s10948-023-06515-6. Epub 2023 Feb 3.

Authors

M Muralidhar¹, A Sai Srikanth¹, S Pinmangkorn¹, M Santosh¹, J Milos²

Affiliations

¹ Materials for Energy and Environmental Laboratory, Superconducting Materials Group, Graduate School of Engineering and Science, SIT, 3-7-5 Toyosu, Koto City, Tokyo, 135-8548 Japan.
² Institute of Physics, Na Slovance 2, Prague, CZ 18200 Czech Republic.

Abstract

Progress in the mass production of newly developed bulk (Gd_0.33Y_0.13Er_0.53)Ba₂Cu₃O_y "(Gd,Y,Er)123" and MgB₂ 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 MgB₂ at 20 K and self-field. This progress in fabrication of high-performance LREBa₂Cu₃O_y and MgB₂ superconducting bulks further promotes commercialization of superconductors' production as a mode of sustainable technology.

Keywords: Critical current density; GdYEr-123; Global warming; MgB2; Superconducting technology.