First commercial application of NbTi superconductor employing artificial pinning centers

Supercon has applied its artificial pinning center (APC) technology to develop a multifilamentary NbTi superconductor for MRI application. This technology is particularly well suited to large filament, low field use. The conductor microstructure and performance (e.g., critical current) are presented. The influence of conductor geometry (e.g., filament placement, spacing to diameter ratio) on filament quality is discussed. The conductor has been incorporated into Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) magnets by GE Medical Systems, and the magnets performance is discussed.<
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