ORNL superconducting wire yields unprecedented performance

ORNL superconducting wire yields unprecedented performance: A team led by ORNL's Amit Goyal demonstrated that superconducting wires can be tuned to match different operating conditions by introducing small amounts of non-superconducting material that influences how the overall material behaves...

A wire sample grown with this process exhibited unprecedented performance in terms of engineering critical current density...

"We report a record performance at 65 Kelvin and 3 Tesla, where most rotating machinery applications like motors and generators are slated to operate," he said.

"When you're making the wires, you can dial-in the properties because the defects self-assemble," Goyal said. "You change the composition of the superconductor when you're depositing the tape."