Scale up of high-performance Y-Ba-Cu-O coated conductors

Abstract

YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub x/ (YBCO) coated conductors have been produced in meter lengths in pilot scale facilities established at IGC-SuperPower. Highly-smooth nickel alloy substrates have been polished in reel-to-reel polishing facility, with a uniform roughness of 2 nm. A pilot-scale ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) facility has been used to produce 1 to 5 m lengths of buffered tapes with a uniform in-plane texture of 11 degrees and a surface roughness of 12 nm. YBCO has been deposited on meter-lengths of substrates by both pulsed laser deposition (PLD), and metal organic chemical-vapor deposition (MOCVD). End-to-end critical current of 43 A has been achieved in meter-long PLD-based YBCO. Meter-long YBCO tapes with a critical current of 90 A have been produced in MOCVD facility.