Abstract:

Although material scientists constantly discover superconducting compounds with higher critical temperatures (T[inf c]'s), manufacturing of the high-temperature superconductors (HTS) remains a problem and long lengths (>1 mile) have yet to be produced. In an effort to produce long length superconductors, manufacturing steps for HTS tape production have been critically looked at to find their effects in producing tape with the desired characteristics. In support of determining superconducting tape characteristics, acoustic microscopy offers the potential for internal microstructural material characterization. This research will ultimately support in-process monitoring of HTS manufacturing as part of an advanced sensing system to determine the presence of defects and/or the effects of process variables on the HTS tape. This presentation will overview scanning acoustic microscopy and present images of HTS tape at several frequencies ranging from 50 to 500 MHz. The results clearly demonstrate the feasibility of determining the Ag/ceramic interface location and the general integrity of the constituents.