Challenges and opportunities to assure future manufacturing of magnet conductors for the accelerator sector

Lance Cooley; David Larbalestier; Kathleen Amm

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arXiv · 2208.12379

Challenges and opportunities to assure future manufacturing of magnet conductors for the accelerator sector

Lance Cooley·David Larbalestier·Kathleen Amm

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Abstract

We take a comprehensive look at conductors used in superconducting magnets for the accelerator sector and explore the ramifications of the present marketplace for supply of conductor to future accelerator facilities. While there are thousands of superconductors, many of which have promising properties for applications, we outline the journey a promising material must take to become a magnet conductor that is manufactured at the scale needed for an accelerator facility. Among the few materials that actually reach this scale, Nb$_{3}$Sn is arguably the workhorse conductor for the next generation of accelerators. Yet, a marketplace pull equivalent to the medical imaging magnet industry, which consumes close to 1000 tons of commodity-scale Nb-Ti conductor per year, has not emerged. This aspect greatly complicates the steps that must be taken to assure readiness of manufacturing for the next accelerator facility. Meanwhile, high-temperature superconductors (HTS), which are capable of extremely high fields at low temperature, are advancing rapidly as magnet conductors, and the long horizons of large physics projects could provide time for them to emerge and displace Nb-based materials. We close by examining in more detail the ecosystem that connects accelerator magnet conductors with broader industry applications, in particular areas that are presently in rapid development such as fusion and wind turbines and which would potentially require hundreds of tons of conductor.

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Lance Cooley, David Larbalestier, Kathleen Amm. 2022-08-25. Challenges and opportunities to assure future manufacturing of magnet conductors for the accelerator sector. https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.12379

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