Isotropic round-wire multifilament cuprate superconductor for generation of magnetic fields above 30 T

Magnets are the principal market for superconductors, but making attractive conductors out of the high-temperature cuprate superconductors (HTSs) has proved difficult because of the presence of high-angle grain boundaries that are generally believed to lower the critical current density, J$_c$. To minimize such grain boundary obstacles, HTS conductors such as REBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7−x}$ and (Bi, Pb)$_2$Sr$_2$Ca$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{10−x}$ are both made as tapes with a high aspect ratio and a large superconducting anisotropy. Here we report that Bi$_2$2Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8−x}$ (Bi-2212) can be made in the much more desirable isotropic, round-wire, multifilament form that can be wound or cabled into arbitrary geometries and will be especially valuable for high-field NMR magnets beyond the present 1 GHz proton resonance limit of Nb$_3$Sn technology. An appealing attribute of this Bi-2212 conductor is that, being without macroscopic texture, it contains many high-angle grain boundaries but nevertheless attains a very high J$_c$ of 2,500 A mm$^{−2}$ at 20 T and 4.2 K. The large potential of the conductor has been demonstrated by building a small coil that generated almost 2.6 T in a 31 T background field. This demonstration that grain boundary limits to high J$_c$ can be practically overcome underlines the value of a renewed focus on grain boundary properties in non-ideal geometries.