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Increase
Piece Length and Reduce Cost of A15 Superconductor Wire by Eliminating Wire
Drawing Breakage--INNOVARE,
Inc., 7277 Park Drive, Bath, PA 18014-8854;
610-837-8830
Dr.
Alfred R. Austen, Principal Investigator, innovinc@erols.com
Dr. Alfred R. Austen, Business Official, innovinc@erols.com
DOE
Grant No. DE-FG02-04ER83982
Amount:
$100,000
High
performance A-15 superconductors (niobium-aluminum and niobium-tin compounds)
with critical currents of 3500 A/mm2 at 12 Tesla and 4.2ēK and with deff
values of 50 microns or less will be required for future High Energy Physics
magnets. However, wire drawing
breakage is currently a costly manufacturing problem, and it has created a
barrier to drawing many of the new, advanced A15 composite wires.
In previous work, an advanced wire drawing technology was developed to
eliminate this breakage, but further demonstrations are required to confirm that
it can serve as the basis for a robust, cost-effective production system.
This project will expand the previous wire-drawing laboratory facility to
draw much larger conductors (up to 6 mm). Phase
I will modify the facility by adding a set of custom profile drawing dies; a
long-wire-capacity, pump-pressurized lubricator; and a wire puller-winder system
for high speed drawing. Then, a
previously-non-drawable, high performance niobium-tin composite will be selected
for trial, and sufficient wire for making a small test magnet (at least 160 m)
will be drawn at high rates. In
Phase II, the individual wire-drawing operations will be integrated into a
wire-drawing station to perform all of the mechanical conditioning, cleaning,
lubrication, wire guidance, and drawing operations simultaneously; then this
station will be tested in a superconductor manufacturing facility.
Commercial
Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:
The technology should enable the fabrication of optimum performance
superconductors with high manufacturing yields, leading to reduced wire costs
and, subsequently, lower costs for the next generation of
high-magnetic-field-strength superconducting magnets for use in high energy
physics, fusion energy development, and magnetic resonance imaging units.