Development of MgB2 wires for economical NMR magnets at 20 K (low field/low resolution) and at 4.2 K (intermediate portions of high field magnets)

• Forschungsstelle: INNOSUISSE
• Projektnummer: 9871.3;10 PFIW-IW
• Projekttitel Englisch: Development of MgB2 wires for economical NMR magnets at 20 K (low field/low resolution) and at 4.2 K (intermediate portions of high field magnets)

Kurzbeschreibung (Deutsch)

Development of MgB2 wires for economical NMR magnets at 20 K (low field/low resolution) and at 4.2 K (intermediate portions of high field magnets)

Kurzbeschreibung (Englisch)

Development of MgB2 wires for economical NMR magnets at 20 K (low field/low resolution) and at 4.2 K (intermediate portions of high field magnets)

Abstract (Deutsch)

The superconductor MgB2 opens the way towards new industrial applications. Operation at 20 K is justified by the needs for cryogen-free superconducting devices, driven by technical and economical advantages, but also by increasing scarcity of liquid He. The present project is focused on three key issues, based on recent progress at the University of Geneva: 1) Improvement of the critical current density in MgB2 wires at 4.2 and 20 K by means of a new process developed in Geneva: Cold High Pressure Densification, 2) Improvement of the wire architecture in terms of filament size and filling factor, under the condition of thermal stability and mechanical strength, and 3) accelerated market breakthrough by means of demonstration in relatively widely-used NMR applications. The following applications are of high interest for Bruker BioSpin AG: - Low field/low resolution magnets: Cryogen-free NMR systems at T = 20 K with frequencies of 200 MHz at 5T, and - High field/high resolution NMR magnets: MgB2 magnets, envisaged for a replacement of the considerably more expensive Nb3Sn magnets in the field region between 9 and 12 T in NMR systems producing fields of 22 T and higher, thus contributing to an overall cost reduction.

Abstract (Englisch)

The superconductor MgB2 opens the way towards new industrial applications. Operation at 20 K is justified by the needs for cryogen-free superconducting devices, driven by technical and economical advantages, but also by increasing scarcity of liquid He. The present project is focused on three key issues, based on recent progress at the University of Geneva: 1) Improvement of the critical current density in MgB2 wires at 4.2 and 20 K by means of a new process developed in Geneva: Cold High Pressure Densification, 2) Improvement of the wire architecture in terms of filament size and filling factor, under the condition of thermal stability and mechanical strength, and 3) accelerated market breakthrough by means of demonstration in relatively widely-used NMR applications. The following applications are of high interest for Bruker BioSpin AG: - Low field/low resolution magnets: Cryogen-free NMR systems at T = 20 K with frequencies of 200 MHz at 5T, and - High field/high resolution NMR magnets: MgB2 magnets, envisaged for a replacement of the considerably more expensive Nb3Sn magnets in the field region between 9 and 12 T in NMR systems producing fields of 22 T and higher, thus contributing to an overall cost reduction.