SWCC and ISTEC Develop Cheap 500-meter HTS Wire Rod

SWCC Showa Cable Systems, one of Japanese largest electric cable makers, and International Superconductivity Technology Center (ISTEC), an incorporated foundation to advance superconductivity studies, announced on Monday they succeeded in development of yttrium based superconductive wire rod with 500-meter length and 310-ampere critical current by improvement of their low cost and high speed production method. The productive cost decreased to 7.8 yen per ampere/meter.

This achievement belongs to the high temperature superconductive (HTS) technology projects supported by New Energy & Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), an independent government agency. SWCC and ISTEC cleared the project’s targets to commercialize HTS wire rod, those which are 500-meter length, 300-ampere critical current per centimeter width, and 8-yen productive cost per ampere/meter.

SWCC and ISTEC cooperatively developed “TFA-MOD method” which contributes to low cost and high speed production of yttrium based HTS wire rod. They deposit yttrium-barium-copper-oxide solution on nickel based heat-resistant alloy tapes and process superconductive layers in firing furnaces.

ISTEC developed a multi-turning type furnace for the process to deposit YBCO solution and pre-heat the tapes. SWCC enlarged the equipment and improved the manufacturing conditions. By this new pre-heating method, the process speed reached 10 meters per hour at maximum.

Moreover, SWCC newly introduced a 2.5-times large electric furnace for the next heating process, which can treat 500-meter wire rod at once while the previous furnace was for 200-meter wire rod. This process capacity was advanced to 20 meters per hour at maximum.