Method for making a superconductor with enhanced current carrying capability

US6699820B2 · kind B2 · utility

Inventors

• Hartmut Bielefeldt · Friedrichshafen, DE
• Barbel Martha Gotz · Augsburg, DE
• German Hammerl · Meitingen, DE
• Johannes Wilhelmus Maria Hilgenkamp · Borne, NL
• Jochen Mannhart · Eppelheim, DE
• Andreas Schmehl · Deiningen, DE
• Christof Walter Schneider · Königsbrunn, DE
• Robert Schulz · Grayling, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 2, 2001
• Grant date: Mar 2, 2004
• Expiry date: Mar 30, 2021

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10S505/781
• WIPO field: Materials, metallurgy
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

The present invention concerns the improvement of the supercurrent carrying capabilities, i.e. the increase of critical current densities, of bicrystalline or polycrystalline superconductor structures, especially of high-Tc superconductors. By providing an appropriate predetermined dopant profile across the superconductor structure, in particular within or in the vicinity of the grain boundaries, the space-charge layers at the grain boundaries are reduced and thereby the current transport properties of the superconductor significantly improved. Simultaneously, the influence of magnetic fields on the critical current densities is significantly reduced, which in turn enhances the overall supercurrent carrying capabilities while keeping the supercurrent transport properties of the grains at good values.