Niobium–titanium

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Niobium–titanium (Nb-Ti) is an alloy of niobium and titanium, used industrially as a type II superconductor wire for superconducting magnets, normally as Nb-Ti fibres in an aluminium or copper matrix.

Its critical temperature is about 10 kelvins.[1]

In 1962, at Atomics International, T. G. Berlincourt and R. R. Hake,[2][3] discovered the superior high-critical-magnetic-field, high-critical-supercurrent-density properties of Nb-Ti that, together with affordability and easy workability, distinguish Nb-Ti alloys from thousands of other superconductors and justify their status as the most widely utilized (workhorse) superconductors.

With a maximal critical magnetic field of about 15 teslas, Nb-Ti alloys are suitable for fabricating supermagnets generating magnetic fields up to about 10 teslas. For higher magnetic fields, higher-performance, but more expensive and less easily fabricated superconductors, such as niobium-tin, are commonly employed.

The part of global economic activity for which superconductivity is indispensable amounted to about five billion euros in 2014.[4] MRI (Magnet Resonance Imaging) systems, most of which employ niobium-titanium, accounted for about 80% of that total.

Notable uses[]

Superconducting magnets[]

A bubble chamber at Argonne National Laboratory has a 4.8-meter-diameter Nb-Ti magnet producing a magnetic field of 1.8 tesla.[5]

About 1000 Nb-Ti SC magnets were used in the 4-mile-long main ring of the Tevatron accelerator at Fermilab.[6] The magnets were wound with 50 tons of copper cables containing 17 tons of Nb-Ti filaments.[7] They operate at 4.5 K generating fields up to 4.5 T.

1999: The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider uses 1,740 Nb-Ti SC 3.45 T magnets to bend beams in its 3.8 km double storage ring.[8]

In the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator the magnets (containing 1200 tonnes of Nb-Ti cable[9] of which 470 tons are Nb-Ti[10] and the rest copper) are cooled to 1.9 K to allow safe operation at fields of up to 8.3 T.

Nb-Ti wires coming out of an LHC dipole magnet.

Niobium–titanium superconducting magnet coils (liquid helium cooled) were built to be used in the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer mission to be flown on the International Space Station. They were later replaced by non-superconducting magnets.

The experimental fusion reactor ITER uses Niobium–titanium for its poloidal field coils. In 2008 a test coil achieved stable operation at 52 kA and 6.4 T.[11]

The Wendelstein 7-X stellarator uses Nb-Ti for its magnets, cooled to 4 K to create a 3 T field.

The SCMaglev uses Nb-Ti for the magnets onboard trains. A train using the technology currently holds the train speed world record of 603 km/h. It will be deployed for the Chūō Shinkansen, providing passenger service between Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka at a planned maximum operating speed of 505 km/h. Construction is underway for the Tokyo–Nagoya segment, with a planned opening date of 2027.[12]

Gallery[]

  • Cross section of preform superconductor cable.jpg
  • Cross section of preform superconductor cable 2.jpg
  • Cross section of preform superconductor cable 3.jpg

See also[]

Further reading[]

References[]

  1. ^ Charifoulline, Z. (May 2006). "Residual Resistivity Ratio (RRR) measurements of LHC superconducting NbTi cable strands". IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity. 16 (2): 1188–1191. Bibcode:2006ITAS...16.1188C. doi:10.1109/TASC.2006.873322.
  2. ^ T. G. Berlincourt and R. R. Hake (1962). "Pulsed-Magnetic-Field Studies of Superconducting Transition Metal Alloys at High and Low Current Densities". Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 2 (7): 408.
  3. ^ T. G. Berlincourt (1987). "Emergence of NbTi as a Supermagnet Material". Cryogenics. 27 (6): 283. Bibcode:1987Cryo...27..283B. doi:10.1016/0011-2275(87)90057-9.
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-08-11. Retrieved 2015-05-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ "Superconducting Magnets". HyperPhysics. Retrieved 4 Jan 2019.
  6. ^ R. Scanlan (May 1986). "Survey of High Field Superconducting Material for Accelerator Magnets" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-30. Retrieved 2011-08-30.
  7. ^ Robert R. Wilson (1978). "The Tevatron" (PDF). Fermilab. Retrieved 4 Jan 2019.
  8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2009-12-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ Lucio Rossi (22 Feb 2010). "Superconductivity: its role, its success and its setbacks in the Large Hadron Collider of CERN". Superconductor Science and Technology. 23 (3): 034001. Bibcode:2010SuScT..23c4001R. doi:10.1088/0953-2048/23/3/034001.
  10. ^ Status of the LHC superconducting cable mass production 2002
  11. ^ "Milestones in the History of the ITER Project". iter.org. 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2011. The test coil achieves stable operation at 52 kA and 6.4 Tesla.
  12. ^ Uno, Mamoru (October 2016). "Chuo Shinkansen Project using Superconducting Maglev System" (PDF). Japan Railway & Transport Review (68): 14–25. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
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