Progress on MOD/RABiTS™ 2G HTS wire

The development of the second generation (2G) high temperature superconducting wire has advanced beyond initial laboratory demonstrations and is now focused on developing and testing high critical current conductor designs required for commercial applications. The approach pursued at American Superconductor for 2G wire manufacturing is based on the combination of the RABiTSTI substrate-buffer technology with metal organic deposition (MOD) of the YBCO layer. This MOD/RABiTS(TM) approach has been demonstrated in 10 in lengths with critical currents of up to 184 A/cm-width (similar to2.3 MA/cm(2)) and in short length with critical currents of up to 270 A/cm-width (similar to3.4 MA/cm(2)). In addition to a high critical current, the superconducting wire must also meet stringent mechanical and electrical stability requirements that vary by application. Commercially viable architectures designed to meet these specifications have been fabricated and tested. Wires manufactured by this process have been successfully tested in prototype cable and coil applications. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.