Friday, 2B-03, 9:00-9:10

Kilometer Long 2G HTS Wires Demonstrated: Where Do We Go From Here?

Venkat Selvamanickam

University of Houston and /SuperPower, Inc.

In summer 2008, an important milestone was reached in 2G HTS wire technology. The very first demonstration of a kilometer-long, complete 2G HTS wire with a critical current exceeding 200 A/cm over the entire length was reported. That marked the end of a long journey that was undertaken at the dawn of this millennium to scale up 2G wire from lengths of just a few centimeters with a critical current at a fraction of the routine performance of today’s long wires. With this achievement, 2G HTS wire is now in the realm of conventional LTS wire lengths. However, several challenges exist before 2G HTS wire technology can be labeled as being ready for large-scale commercial applications. Uniformity of critical currents over kilometer lengths is the first challenge. A clear understanding of sources of defects that cause local critical current drops needs to be established. The next challenge is the achievement of high critical currents that have been demonstrated in short samples. Even in the regions of good uniformity, the critical current of long 2G wires is about a factor of two less than that achieved in short samples. Microstructural differences between short samples and long tapes and the process implications need to be elucidated. This talk will discuss these and other challenges that are being addressed as 2G wire begins its transformation into a mature product.

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