Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

Catherine Wilson

Ahmad Safari

Superconducting ceramic material is woven into an interconnected structure and embedded in a polymer to produce a flexible, superconducting ceramic material. The polymer also provides protection from moisture. The ceramic polymer composite is fabricated by soaking a carbon fabric in a solution of metal nitrates, ethylene glycol and citric acid to yield a nominal composition of, for example, YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7-x. Heat treatment results in the decomposition of the nitrates, organics and carbon fabric to produce an interconnected structure of the superconducting ceramic material which takes the shape of the original carbon fabric on a reduced scale. In addition, the processing conditions yield significant grain orientation. The superconducting grains of the ceramic material align along the direction of the original fabric weave which provides an improvement of the critical current densities.

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Teaneck, NJ, United States of America

Catherine Wilson