Advanced development of TFA-MOD coated conductors

Abstract

American Superconductor is manufacturing 2G wire for initial commercial applications. The 2G wire properties satisfy the requirements for these initial projects; however, improvements in the critical current, field performance and cost are required to address the broad range of potential commercial and military applications. In order to meet the anticipated the performance and cost requirements, AMSC’s R&D effort is focused on two major areas: (1) higher critical current and (2) enhanced flux pinning.AMSC’s current 2G production wire, designed around a 0.8μm thick YBCO layer deposited by a Metal Organic Deposition (MOD) process, carries a critical current in the range of 200–300A/cm-w (77K, sf). Achieving higher critical current requires increasing the thickness of the YBCO layer. This paper describes recent progress at AMSC on increasing the critical current of MOD-YBCO films using processes compatible with low-cost, high-rate manufacturing.