PROCESSING OF BSCCO SUPERCONDUCTING RODS FOR CURRENT LEADS

Current leads made of ceramic superconductors promise to be one of the first applications of these materials. The high critical temperature and low thermal conductivity of ceramic superconductors make them suit able for current leads in low T-c devices. Rods and tubes of BSCCO wer e fabricated using Cold Isostatic Pressing (CIP). The platelet morphol ogy of BSCCO was utilized to process rods with a high degree of prefer red orientation using suitably designed cans for cold isostatic pressi ng. The effect of starting powder, processing parameters, and loading configuration were studied and an optimum processing cycle was develop ed. Rods with consistent current capacities of several hundred amperes over 15 cm have been fabricated using this technique. In addition, th e critical currents of these rods were measured at various temperature s and magnetic fields and found to be very satisfactory for current le ad applications. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.