Showa Cable, ISTEC Develop Yttrium Superconducting Wire Process

SWCC Showa Cable Systems announced on Wednesday the firm and International Superconductivity Technology Center (ISTEC) developed method to make yttrium oxide superconducting wire rod in faster and cheaper than before. The method is to make superconducting layer through baking in heat treating furnace after putting metal containing liquor on metal tape substrate. They succeeded to make the material with 200 meters long and 200 ampere of critical current at 10 meters per hour of speed, which is 5 times higher than traditional method. They developed the technology as a part of the project led by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization. They targeted 5 meters per hour of speed at the end of March 2008. The method of metal organic deposition (MOD) is simple process than traditional method of pulse laser deposition (PLD) along with the cheaper equipment, higher yield and faster production. The new method can reduce the production cost by 30% compared with traditional method. The cheaper process can make the way to commercial applications. The project is to develop the technology to make the wire rod with 500 meters long and 300 ampere of critical current by the end of March 2009. They try to improve the production speed to 20 meters per hour.