Superconductor high-temperature

Abstract An Eddy current method applying a High Temperature Superconductor ( HTS ) DC SQUID sensor operating at Uquid nitrogen temperature (77K) is presented. The method is developed for the detection of surface or surface near defects. We compare the performance of the SQUID system with the performance gained from a commercial Eddy current system, while using identical probes. The experimental data are obtained on defects in gas turbine blades. The advantage of planar conformable probes for the use with the SQUID is discussed. 

The development of neutron diffraction by C G Shull and coworkers [30] led to the detennination of the existence, previously only a hypothesis, of antiferromagnetism and ferrimagnetism. More recently neutron diffraction, because of its sensitivity to light elements in the presence of heavy ones, played a cmcial role in demonstrating the importance of oxygen content m high-temperature superconductors. 

Superconductivity The physical state in which all resistance to the flow of direct-current electricity disappears is defined as superconductivity. The Bardeen-Cooper-Schriefer (BCS) theoiy has been reasonably successful in accounting for most of the basic features observed of the superconducting state for low-temperature superconductors (LTS) operating below 23 K. The advent of the ceramic high-temperature superconductors (HTS) by Bednorz and Miller (Z. Phys. B64, 189, 1989) has called for modifications to existing theories which have not been finahzed to date. The massive interest in the new superconductors that can be cooled with liquid nitrogen is just now beginning to make its way into new applications. 

There are presently four famihes of high-temperature superconductors under investigation for practical magnet appheations. Table 11-25 shows that all HTS are copper oxide ceramics even though the oxygen content may vary. However, this variation generally has little effect on the phvsical properties of importance to superconductivity. 

M. S. Dresselhaus, G. Dresselhaus, and R. Saito. In Physical Properties of High Temperature Superconductors IV, edited by D. M. Ginsberg, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1994. Vol. IV, Chapter 7. 

The electronic theory of metallic superconduction was established by Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer in 1957, but the basis of superconduction in the oxides remains a battleground for rival interpretations. The technology of the oxide ( high-temperature ) superconductors is currently receiving a great deal of attention the central problem is to make windable wires or tapes from an intensely brittle material. It is in no way a negative judgment on the importance and interest of these materials that they do not receive a detailed discussion here it is simply that they do not lend themselves to a superficial account, and there is no space here for a discussion in the detail that they intrinsically deserve. 

The alkoxides and aryloxides, particularly of yttrium have excited recent interest. This is because of their potential use in the production of electronic and ceramic materials,in particular high temperature superconductors, by the deposition of pure oxides (metallo-organic chemical vapour deposition, MOCVD). They are moisture sensitive but mostly polymeric and involatile and so attempts have been made to inhibit polymerization and produce the required volatility by using bulky alkoxide ligands. M(OR)3, R = 2,6-di-terr-butyl-4-methylphenoxide, are indeed 3-coordinate (pyramidal) monomers but still not sufficiently volatile. More success has been achieved with fluorinated alkoxides, prepared by reacting the parent alcohols with the metal tris-(bis-trimethylsilylamides) ... 

Current availability of individual lanthanides (plus Y and La) in a state of high purity and relatively low cost has stimulated research into potential new applications. These are mainly in the field of solid state chemistry and include solid oxide fuel cells, new phosphors and perhaps most significantly high temperature superconductors... 

High Temperature Superconductors developed byj. Georg Bednorz and Karl A. Muller. 1769... 

High-temperature superconductors, p. 192 Fuel cells, p. 579 Nanotubes, p. 608 Self-assembling materials, p. 649 Conducting polymers, p. 772... 

Metals and semiconductors are electronic conductors in which an electric current is carried by delocalized electrons. A metallic conductor is an electronic conductor in which the electrical conductivity decreases as the temperature is raised. A semiconductor is an electronic conductor in which the electrical conductivity increases as the temperature is raised. In most cases, a metallic conductor has a much higher electrical conductivity than a semiconductor, but it is the temperature dependence of the conductivity that distinguishes the two types of conductors. An insulator does not conduct electricity. A superconductor is a solid that has zero resistance to an electric current. Some metals become superconductors at very low temperatures, at about 20 K or less, and some compounds also show superconductivity (see Box 5.2). High-temperature superconductors have enormous technological potential because they offer the prospect of more efficient power transmission and the generation of high magnetic fields for use in transport systems (Fig. 3.42). 

Ceramic materials are typically noncrystalline inorganic oxides prepared by heat-treatment of a powder and have a network structure. They include many silicate minerals, such as quartz (silicon dioxide, which has the empirical formula SiO,), and high-temperature superconductors (Box 5.2). Ceramic materials have great strength and stability, because covalent bonds must be broken to cause any deformation in the crystal. As a result, ceramic materials under physical stress tend to shatter rather than bend. Section 14.22 contains further information on the properties of ceramic materials. 

All metals conduct electricity on account of the mobility of the electrons that bind the atoms together. Ionic, molecular, and network solids are typically electrical insulators or semiconductors (see Sections 3.f3 and 3.14), but there are notable exceptions, such as high-temperature superconductors, which are ionic or ceramic solids (see Box 5.2), and there is currently considerable interest in the electrical conductivity ol some organic polymers (see Box 19.1). 

A unit cell of one of the new high-temperature superconductors is shown here. What is its formula ... 

Fe(CN)6]3-(aq) + 6 H20(1). substrate The chemical species on which an enzyme acts, superconductor An electronic conductor that conducts electricity with zero resistance. See also high-temperature superconductor. supercooled Refers to a liquid cooled to below its freezing point but not yet frozen, supercritical fluid A fluid phase of a substance above its critical temperature and critical pressure. supercritical Having a mass greater than the critical mass. 

The deposition of thin films of the high-temperature superconductor yttrium-barium-copper oxide, YBa2Cu307, is obtained from the mixed halides, typically YCI3, Bal2, and CUCI2, with O2 and H2O as oxygen sources. Deposition temperatures are 870-910°C.f ]... 

Superconductivity has been known since 1911, and superconducting systems based on various metal alloys (e.g., NbTi and Nb3Sn) are currently used as magnets and in electronics. These materials exhibit superconductivity only at temperatures below 23 K and require cooling by liquid helium. The discovery of ceramics that exhibit superconductivity at temperatures up to 120 K, the so-called high-temperature superconductors, has sparked a tremendous amount of scientific activity and commercial interest around the world. 

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