Earticle

The effect of sulfate substitution on the formation of (Pb,S)-1201 type phase was investigated. Polycrystalline samples with nominal compositions of (Pb0.5B0.5-xSx)(Sr2-yLay)CuOz, (x = 0 – 0.5, y = 0.7 – 1.0) and (Pb0.5S0.5)(Sr2-yLay)CuOz (y = 0.5 – 1.0) were prepared by using a solid-state reaction method. The samples were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and resistivity measurements. XRD data revealed that almost-single (Pb,S)-1201 phase samples could be obtained for x = 0.5 and y = 0.9-1.0, judging from the similar results of the XRD patterns between the (Pb,S)-1201 and (Pb,B)-1201 phases. Each of the samples has a crystal structure with tetragonal symmetry. The sample with x = 0.5 and y = 0.9 is found to show an onset of resistivity dropping at over 23 K and zero resistivity at 12 K.

This study presents that various grain boundary junctions are prepared by controlling the seed orientation combined with an artificial hole in a melt process REBCO bulk superconductor. Large grain YBCO superconductors have been fabricated with various grain boundary junctions that the angle between the grain boundary and the <001> axis of Y123 crystal is 0º, 30 º and 45º, respectively. The presence of the artificial hole is beneficial for the formation of clean grain boundary junction and single peak trapped magnetic field profiles have been obtained. Artificial hole makes two growth fronts meet at a point on a periphery of the artificial hole. The presence of artificial hole is not likely to affect on the distribution of Y211 particles. The newly formed <110> facet lines are explained by the formation of new Y123/liquid interface with (010) crystallographic plane.

MgB2 superconducting properties have been investigated with the surface-treated boron powders using the chemical solvents. Various solvents were used such as acetone, ethanol, methanol, and water to possibly modify the surface condition of raw boron powders as received. This treatment was done at an argon gas environment inside the glove box to reduce the further contamination during and after chemical treatments. It was found that Tc values were increased to 37.58-37.73 K from the pure sample of 37.50 K when they were treated in inert environment. High- fields Jc at both 5 & 20 K was all increased regardless of any kinds of chemical treatments mentioned above. It is also noted that the Jc at low-fields were increased in the order of solvents: ethanol > acetone > pure MgB2 = methanol > water.

No-insulation (NI) pancake magnets are fabricated using Rare earth-Barium-Copper Oxide (REBCO) coated conductor (CC) tapes, which enabled a very compact magnet in the aspects of high critical current density (Jc) and high mechanical strength by removing insulation and allowing thinner stabilizer. They have also advantages such as self-quench protection. Therefore, it does not need quench detection and protection that can be very challenging in a high critical temperature (Tc) superconducting magnet technology. Recently, it was reported that the NI REBCO CC magnets have some drawbacks of long charging time and high field ramp loss which will be a concern in the operation of cryocooled magnets. These issues are related to the turn-to-turn contact resistivity and can be released by managing it. This is also closely related to the activity of reducing the contact joint resistance in the case of CC joints for long length CC fabrication. Therefore, in this study, the turn-to-turn contact resistance (Rc) at the CC contact part of differently stabilized CC tapes was measured. The behaviors of Rc at CC contact parts according to the applied contact pressure were investigated. The range of Rc measured for CC tapes adopted will provide fundamental data for design and fabrication of the CC NI coils.

It is difficult to fabricate and maintain moving parts of expander at cryogenic temperature. This paper describes numerical analysis and experimental investigation on a cryogenic reciprocating expander without moving piston. An intake valve which takes high-pressure gas, and an exhaust valve which discharges low-pressure gas, are connected to a tube. The inside pressure of the tube is pulsated for work production. This geometric configuration is similar to that of pulse tube refrigerator but without regenerator. An orifice valve and a reservoir are installed to control the phase of the mass flow and the pressure. At the warm end, a heat exchanger rejects the heat which is converted from the produced work of the expanded gas. For the numerical analysis, mass conservation, energy conservation, and local mass function for valves are used as the governing equations. Before performing cryogenic experiments, we carried out the expander test at room temperature and compared the performance results with the numerical results. For cryogenic experiments, the gas is pre-cooled by liquid nitrogen, and then it enters the pulse tube expander. The experiments are controlled by the opening of the orifice valve. Numerical analysis also found the expander conditions that optimize the expander performance by changing the intake pressure and valve timing as well as the opening of the orifice valve. This paper discusses the experimental data and the numerical analysis results to understand the fundamental behavior of such a newly developed non-mechanical expander and elucidate its potential feature for cryogenic application.

With the continuous performance improvement and commercialization of HTS wires, there have been many efforts to commercialize HTS power cables recently. Unlike conventional power cables, a cryogenic cooling system is required for a HTS power cable and a cryogenic pump is one of the essential components to circulate subcooled liquid nitrogen and cool the HTS power cable. Especially, the development of a reliable and high-efficiency cryogenic pump is an important issue for the commercialization of HTS power cables of several kilometers or more. In this study, we designed and fabricated a cryogenic pump for subcooled liquid nitrogen with a mass flow rate of 1.2 kg/s, a differential pressure of 5 bar, and evaluated the hydraulic performance of the pump. Impeller design was conducted to meet the target design performance with 1 D analysis model and CFD analysis. The pump performance parameters such as pressure heads, mass flow rates, and efficiencies in accordance with rotating speeds were assessed using a laboratory's performance evaluation system.