FIRST COMMERCIAL APPLICATION OF NBTI SUPERCONDUCTOR EMPLOYING ARTIFICIAL PINNING CENTERS

Supercon has applied its artificial pinning center (APC) technology to develop a multifilamentary NbTi superconductor for MRI application. T his technology is particularly well suited to large filament, low fiel d use. The conductor microstructure and performance (e.g., critical cu rrent) will be presented. The influence of conductor geometry (e.g., f ilament placement, spacing to diameter ratio) on filament quality will be discussed. The conductor has been incorporated into Magnetic Reson ance Imaging (MRI) magnets by GE Medical Systems, and the magnets' per formance will be discussed.