Recent R&D on Superconducting Wires for High-Field Magnet

Abstract

Development for superconducting wires of materials such as Nb3Al and the high-temperature superconductors (HTS such as REBCO, Bi2223, and Bi2212) has been carried out for high-field magnet applications. It is known that these types of wire exhibit very different characteristics and performance for different applications. The development of Nb3Al wire for high-field accelerator magnet has resulted in remarkable achievements in critical current using a Rapid Heating and Quenching (RHQ) method by High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) and National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS). As one example of a characteristic of Nb3Al, the strain sensitivity of the critical current in the RHQ-Nb3Al wire is better than that of Nb3Sn wire. A strain study is needed to further the development of a high-filed magnet; therefore, we have carried out experimental studies using the neutron diffractometer at J-PARC Takumi. Researchers have recently achieved the highest critical current density for REBCO wires in a high-field above 15 T. For this reason, REBCO wire has been considered for high-field magnet NMR applications in Riken. But several obstacles remain, including coil degradation, shielding current and thermal runaway. In this paper, R&D on recent advances for applications will be presented.