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High-performance Ba1−xKxFe2As2 superconducting tapes with grain texture engineered via a scalable fabrication

Ba1−xKxFe2As2铁基超导带材的织构调控与性能 研究

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Abstract

Nowadays the development of high-field magnets strongly relies on the performance of superconducting materials. Iron-based superconductors (IBSs) exhibit high upper critical fields and low electromagnetic anisotropy, making them particularly attractive for high-field applications, especially in particle accelerator magnets, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, medical magnetic resonance imaging systems and nuclear fusion reactors. Herein, through an industrially scalable manufacturing strategy, a practical-level critical current density up to 1.1×105 A cm−2 at 4.2 K in an external magnetic field of 10 T was achieved in Cu/ Ag composite-sheathed Ba1−xKxFe2As2 (Ba122) superconducting tapes. The preparation strategy combines flat rolling to induce grain texture and subsequent hot-isostatic-pressing densification. By varying the parameters of rolling, the degree of grain texture was engineered. It is found that the transport properties of the Ba122 tapes can be enhanced by applying a large amount of deformation during rolling, which can be attributed to the improved degree of c-axis texture. Microstructure characterizations on the highest-performance tape demonstrate that the Ba122 phase has a uniform element distribution and small grains with good connectivity. Grain boundary pinning is consequently enhanced as proved by large currents circulating through the sample even at 25 K. Our work proves that Cu/Ag composite-sheathed Ba122 superconducting tapes can be a promising competitor for practical high-field applications in terms of the viable, scalable and cost-effective fabrication strategy applied and the high transport properties achieved in this work.

摘要

高性能超导材料是高场磁体开发的基础. 铁基超导体具有很 高的上临界场和较低的各向异性, 在高场应用领域具有广阔的前 景, 如加速器磁体、高场核磁共振谱仪、医用磁共振成像系统和 可控核聚变装置. 本文通过一种易于规模扩展的工艺路线制备了 铜银复合包套Ba1−xKxFe2As2 (Ba122)超导带材, 其传输临界电流密 度在4.2 K和10 T外磁场下为1.1×105 A cm−2, 达到了105 A cm−2的实 用化水平. 该制备路线结合了平辊轧制织构化工艺和热等静压致 密化工艺. 通过改变轧制工艺参数, 可以调控多晶的织构度. 研究 表明, 在轧制过程中施加较大的变形量可以提高Ba122超导带材的c 轴织构度, 从而提高其传输性能. 对高性能带材的微观结构表征表 明, 其Ba122相元素分布均匀, 晶粒细小且连接性良好, 有助于提高 晶界钉扎作用. 磁光成像研究表明, 即使在25 K, 样品中仍然存在较 大的磁化电流. 本文采用的易于规模化扩展且低成本的制备路线 在Ba122超导带材中获得了很高的传输性能, 表明铁基超导材料在 未来高场应用中是潜在的有力竞争者.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Applied Superconductivity, Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Shifa Liu  (刘世法), Chao Yao  (姚超), He Huang  (黄河), Chiheng Dong  (董持衡), Wenwen Guo  (郭文文), Zhe Cheng  (成者), Yanchang Zhu  (朱炎昌) & Yanwei Ma  (马衍伟)

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Shifa Liu  (刘世法), Chao Yao  (姚超), Chiheng Dong  (董持衡), Wenwen Guo  (郭文文), Zhe Cheng  (成者) & Yanwei Ma  (马衍伟)

  3. High Field Laboratory for Superconducting Materials, Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan

    Satoshi Awaji

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  1. Shifa Liu  (刘世法)
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  2. Chao Yao  (姚超)
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  9. Yanwei Ma  (马衍伟)
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Contributions

Liu S designed the experimental plan, and performed sample preparation and most of the characterizations. Yao C and Dong C provided significant guidance on data analysis and coauthored this article. Huang H and Guo W measured the critical currents of the Ba122 tapes at 4.2 K under external magnetic fields. Cheng Z and Zhu Y contributed to the preparation of Ba122 precursor. Awaji S provided the high-field critical current test system and gave useful advice on the critical current measurements. Ma Y directed the project and also provided significant guidance on data analysis and article writing.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Chao Yao  (姚超) or Yanwei Ma  (马衍伟).

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Shifa Liu received his BSc degree from the School of Materials Science and Engineering of Tsinghua University and is currently a PhD candidate at the Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences under the supervision of Prof. Yanwei Ma. Liu’s research work focuses on the practical research of iron-based superconductors, particularly through the hot isostatic pressing technique.

Chao Yao is an associate professor at the Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received his PhD from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2014 and B.Eng. from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in 2008. He is a member of Youth Innovation Promotion Association, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on the fabrication of highperformance iron-based superconducting wires based on powder-in-tube method.

Yanwei Ma is a professor at the Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received his PhD degree from Tsinghua University in 1996. In 1998–2004, he worked at the Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University (Sendai, Japan), National Institute for Materials Science (Tsukuba, Japan) and Universite de Rennes 1 (France), respectively. His group is specialized in the development of superconducting wires and nanomaterials for energy storage, and fabrication of graphene-based supercapacitors. He currently serves as international board member for many prestigious journals, such as Superconductor Science and Technology, Physica C: Superconductivity and its Applications, etc.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFA0704200 and 2017YFE0129500), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51861135311, U1832213 and 51721005), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB25000000), and the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences (QYZDJ-SSW-JSC026).

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Liu, S., Yao, C., Huang, H. et al. High-performance Ba1−xKxFe2As2 superconducting tapes with grain texture engineered via a scalable fabrication. Sci. China Mater. 64, 2530–2540 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-020-1643-1

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