Superconductor technology: apparatus – material – process – Processes of producing or treating high temperature... – Heating – annealing – or sintering
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-16
2003-09-09
Kopec, Mark (Department: 1751)
Superconductor technology: apparatus, material, process
Processes of producing or treating high temperature...
Heating, annealing, or sintering
C505S430000, C505S431000, C505S433000, C505S470000, C505S490000, C505S739000, C264S241000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06617284
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to superconductor (superconductive) composite material. High temperature superconductor (HTS) ceramics or superconductor ceramics (SC) discovered towards the end of 1980's are very chemically active, brittle and degrade under environmental and magnetic field influences. Until now it was unknown how to avoid these disadvantages so as to allow practical use of the SC ceramics. For example, it was not known how to make continuous and quality assured HTS wires and coils, shaped films and variously shaped products from these very fragile ceramics to produce practical and inexpensive electrical energy and electronics products for various applications. It is believed to be clear that it is very important to develop a superconductor ceramic composite material with high technological workability of the raw material composition, which makes possible cost-effective manufacturing of all necessary products for the Electrical, Electronics and Internet industries, avoiding disadvantages of the prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an innovative superconductor composite material with significantly improved and increased electrical-magnetic and structural properties, such as strain tolerance and ductility, which has practical acceptable reliability and durability in the air and in working conditions at temperatures about 77 K. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a new material of this type from a workable raw material composition. The chosen method of the raw materials preparation is the inexpensive wet method, which causes huge potential for inexpensive and workable material forming. The wet method consists of making a ceramic suspension or slurry of the fine powder particles of superconductor ceramics with or without a dope or an additive in a silicone rubber or silicone lacquer emulsion in toluene or acetone. The use of the ceramic suspension provides significant advantages for superconductor technology and material properties in comparison with prior arts while liquid or “wet” media results in a homogeneous mixture of the multi-component composition of solid particles. An application of such a suspension makes possible adjusting, improving and employing a set of very workable and inexpensive forming and thermal treatment methods producing all useful forms of the superconductor materials. This makes possible inexpensive and scrap-free manufacturing of the quality assured HTS materials.
In keeping with these objects and with others, which will become apparent hereinafter, one key feature of the present invention, briefly stated, is a superconductor composite material composition which comprises a sintered compound of intermixed components including high temperature superconductor ceramics and sintering products of interaction of said superconductor ceramics with silicone material.
SC composite or the superconductor ceramic composite, or SCC, material formulations include a preparation of the suspension of SC ceramics selected from the group consisting of, for example, YBa
2
Cu
3
O
7-x
(Y—Ba—Cu—O or Y123) and Bi
2
Sr
2
Ca
2
Cu
3
O
10
ceramics, and a material selected from the group consisting of rubber silicone and lacquer silicone. The formulations include forming a material, treating the formed material chemically, thermally, mechanically, and physically. These result in SC composite (SCC) material in a form of the particular SCC geometric form. When the material is composed of the above-mentioned components and the final SCC material is produced applying above-mentioned highly workable material formulation, it eliminates the disadvantages of the prior art and provides for highly advantageous practical results.
The preparation and application of the ceramic slurry is provided in a polymer emulsion of the silicon rubber in toluene or acetone solvent since the applied ceramics degrades in water media and in open-air.
In accordance with another feature of the present invention, a dope or additive can be also included from the group consisting of metal elements, Ag, Au, Pt, Cs, and Ni, alkaline earth elements, Ca, Sr, metal oxide compounds, Al
2
O
3
, halogen elements, Br, rare earth elements and sintering products of interaction of said dope elements or compounds with said superconductor ceramics, silicone and its burnt residuals.
The following methods can be used to make corresponding materials and products:
adhesive dip coating of the continuous filament substrate core in the invented slurry to produce continuous SCC filaments for later combining and twisting into wires, coils, and cables;
slip casting or painting or jet-printing or application of the “doctor blade” method for coating of, or cladding on, the continuous tape or ribbon substrate by the invented slurry to produce continuous SCC tapes for combining these tapes into wires, coils, and cables;
film casting or 2D and 3D printing on a silver or quartz glass (silicon) chip-like substrate to produce some SCC electronics elements and devices;
spraying or spattering of the invented suspension or slurry on the large-size substrate surface, producing, for example, radar shields or high sensitive antennas.
Also there can be used:
extrusion or injection molding of the plastic mass from condensed suspension to produce, for example, long-length HTS rods, tubes, rails or beams;
ordinary or hot isostatic pressing of the dry powder mixture from condensed and dried suspension to produce products with complicated or particular shapes, such as tablets, rings, tile or bolls.
Silicone just a little bit interacts with copper, barium, and rare earth oxide ceramics while silicone polymer film covers ceramic particles preventing their degradation up to 500° C.
When HTS ceramic powder and silicone polymer and metal dope are heated, silicone components are subjected to destruction and organic radicals are burnt out from the silicone, which leads to the formation of silicon, silica and carbon crystals. Then, silica reacts with carbon to form silicon carbide and gas: SiO
2
+3C→SiC+2CO↑.
The silicon carbide, silicon, silica and carbon are uniformly distributed in the composite material body. Additionally, during high temperature thermal treatment some components of the composite ceramic material interact with the silica and carbon, so as to form different composites, for example Ba
2
SiO
4
, SiC, etc. This was confirmed by an X-ray phase analysis.
The silicone residuals and products of their reactions are ceramic sintering aids and microwave susceptors. Additionally, these residuals and the products of their reactions together with metal dope (when it is used) prevent degradation of superconductor ceramic products, provide ductility and increase flexibility of the shaped material.
As Ginzburg's physical theory explains, one scientific phenomena discovered and employed in this invention is the cause of the superior electrical-magnetic properties of the invented composite material. This theory says that small quantity of the particular micro impurities can improve superconductor properties of high temperature superconductor ceramics and prevent overheating of the ceramic body micro-shunting thermal and electrical current quenches. Silicone residuals and products of their high temperature reactions and metal dopes play the role of such especially useful impurities, which actually are additives. They pin electrical current vortexes increasing electrical conductivity of the HTS ceramics.
Homogeneous distribution of the solid micro-particles of the ceramic and, for example, metal powders in the liquid silicone-based carrier causes a workable suspension, which is a colloid system. The ceramics-dope suspension or slurry makes possible homogeneous and uniform adhesive precipitation cladding of the solid particles on the metal or quartz or nickel or ceramics, or carbon filament or tape substrate. The same ceramics-dope-silicone colloid suspension or slurry can be dried, which consequently causes den
Rokhvarger Anatoly
Topchiashvili Mikhail I.
Kopec Mark
Zborovsky I.
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