Fujikura Develops High Grade 2G Superconductive Wire

Fujikura announced on Monday the firm succeeded in development of second generation (2G) superconductive wire with world record length and high-performance. The length was 368 meters and the critical current was 304.8 amperes, whose product hit world record 112,166 ampere meters. The commercializing level is generally said as the length of 500 meters and the critical current of 300 amperes.Fujikura also announced on Monday the firm developed a new productive method for an interlayer of 2G superconductive wire along which the interlayer can be processed 5 times faster than before. Traditional method is to make 1.5 micrometers thick gadolinium-zirconium oxide as interlayer on 0.1 millimeters thick hastelloy, which is substrate of wire materials. The new method is to insert 0.03 micrometers thick magnesium oxide between alloy tape and interlayer to make the interlayer thinner to 0.25 micrometers and to speed up the interlayer making to more than 20 meters per hour compared with traditional 3-5 meters per hour. The method can make the wire materials at around a third cost of traditional method.Fujikura develops the superconductive wire as project funded by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).