A trapped field of >3 T in bulk MgB2 fabricated by uniaxial hot pressing

• Published in: Superconductor science & technology 2012-11, Vol.25 (11)
• Main Authors: Durrell, J H, Dancer, C E J, Dennis, A, Shi, Y, Xu, Z, Campbell, A M, Babu, N Hari, Todd, R I, Grovenor, C R M, Cardwell, D A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Critical currents; Cuprates superconductors (high tc and insulating parent compounds); Exact sciences and technology; Physics; Properties of type I and type II superconductors; Superconductivity; Vortex lattices ,flux pinning, flux creep
• ISSN: 0953-2048; 1361-6668
• DOI: 10.1088/0953-2048/25/11/112002

A trapped field of over 3 T has been measured at 17.5 K in a magnetized stack of two disc-shaped bulk MgB2 superconductors of diameter 25 mm and thickness 5.4 mm. The bulk MgB2 samples were fabricated by uniaxial hot pressing, which is a readily scalable, industrial technique, to 91% of their maximum theoretical density. The macroscopic critical current density derived from the trapped field data using the Biot-Savart law is consistent with the measured local critical current density. From this we conclude that critical current density, and therefore trapped field performance, is limited by the flux pinning available in MgB2, rather than by lack of connectivity. This suggests strongly that both increasing sample size and enhancing pinning through doping will allow further increases in trapped field performance of bulk MgB2.