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news release:
License
agreement for superconducting
MgB2
breakthrough
Australia, November 12: The
University of Wollongong has
consolidated its standing as one of the world leaders in the development of
superconductivity materials with the announcement that it has signed a
licence agreement
to patent a breakthrough technology with a US-based company.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor
(Research), Professor Margaret Sheil, said the agreement represented one of the
largest licensing deals ever entered into by the University.
Researchers at one
of the University’s world class teams, the Institute for Superconductivity and
Electronic Materials (ISEM), have made a breakthrough in the fabrication of
wires from the newly-discovered superconductor compound magnesium diboride (MgB2)
by using nano (i.e. minute)-scale silicon carbide and carbon doping. They have
achieved a world record high critical current density and upper critical field
in superconducting MgB2 wires. The in-field critical current density
of MgB2 wires increases by more than an order of magnitude by nano
scale silicon carbide and nano-carbon doping.
Leading the team at the
University of Wollongong is Professor Shixue Dou who is the Director of the ISEM.
The agreement will allow Hyper
Tech Research Inc of Columbus, Ohio, USA, to license UOW's patented technology
for use in the superconducting wires. The MgB2 technology will be
commercially competitive because of its improved performance and its relative
low cost and ease of production compared to other superconducting materials.
Hyper Tech, led by Mr Mike
Tomsic, has a large facility which contains the proprietary equipment necessary
to manufacture MgB2 superconducting wire of varying diameters and
lengths using its patented manufacturing process . A team of 20 engineers,
scientists and technicians has been assembled to meet the task. Mr Tomsic has
established a world-leading superconductor consortium consisting of the
University of Wollongong- ISEM, and the Laboratory for Applied Superconductivity
and Magnetism (LASM) at the Ohio State University and Hyper Tech Research Inc. A
local industry, CMS Alphatech International is also a partner for this
collaborative project.
Superconductors are materials
that have very low resistance to the flow of electricity below certain
temperatures. Finding materials that do transport electricity with very low loss
of energy has massive implications for industry and technology in general.
“This is one of
the most important advances since the discovery of superconductivity in MgB2
material and will have an important impact on the development of technological
superconductors,” Professor Dou said.
He said there was
great potential for this emerging superconductor to be used for various
practical applications such as in the wires in metal coils for magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) machines, fault current limiters, power cables,
cryogenic motors ,energy storage devices, generators, magnetic separators and
transformers.
“Widespread
applications of this invention will lead to enormous energy savings and
environmental benefits,” Professor Dou said.
The breakthrough
has been verified and confirmed by leading groups at the University of
Cambridge, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida, University of
Geneva, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the National Institute of Materials
Science in Japan, Tokyo University, Northwestern Institute of Nonferrous Metals
in China, University of Wisconsin and Ohio State University, University of
Geneva and the University of Karlsrohe.
Professor Dou said
the high performance of the nano-doped MgB2 opens a technical window
to a range of electric power applications previously believed to be only
accessible to the copper oxide based high temperature superconducting materials.
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