15
Lower
Cost Nb3Sn Internal-Tin Strand for ITER Fusion Project--Hyper
Tech Research, Inc., 110 E. Canal Street, Troy, OH
45373-3581; 937-332-0348
Mr.
Michael Tomsic, Principal Investigator,
Mr.
Michael Tomsic, Business Official,
DOE
Grant No. DE-FG02-04ER83975
Amount:
$100,000
Lower
cost Nb3Sn superconductors are required for such fusion projects as
the International Tokamak Experimental Reactor.
This could be achieved by reducing the percentage of Nb in each strand;
however, the challenge is to assure that the strand still can meet the high
current density specification for ITER. This
project will demonstrate a Nb3Sn strand can meet the ITER
specification with 60 percent less Nb compared to state-of-the-art, internal Sn,
Nb3Sn ITER superconductors. In
addition, a technique will be demonstrated for increasing the piece length by up
to a factor of four for a given restack billet size, thereby dramatically
lowering the cost for an ITER-specification strand. Phase
I will fabricate high current density sub-elements, restack the sub-elements
into several different configurations, and demonstrate that these configurations
meet the ITER superconductor strand specification.
Properties of the final strand will be tested for both magnetic and
transport Jc, as well as for AC losses.
Commercial
Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:
The technology should lead to dramatically lower costs for the conductor
and, therefore, significantly lower costs for the entire ITER fusion project.
In addition to the application to fusion magnets, the high field magnets
(above 5 tesla) should find use in MRI, NMR, high gradient magnetic separators,
and SMES applications.