Adelwitz Technologiezentrum Gmbh

Gerhard Langbein

Frank Werfel

The high temperature superconducting material is made from a base material having two opposing surfaces and including a high purity yttrium barium copper oxide compound having a YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7-x (123) composition with silver oxide. The method of making the superconducting material includes controlling a temperature of each opposing surface of the base material to form a time-dependent spatial temperature gradient across the base material; measuring the time-dependent spatial temperature gradient, determining whether it is within a desired range and controlling it so that the time-dependent spatial temperature gradient remains within the desired range, thereby melt-texturing the base material while decomposing the silver oxide into silver and transforming the base material into quasi-crystalline superconducting regions having YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7-x (123) composition, intrinsically non-superconducting material zones consisting of coherent yttrium-rich material having a Y.sub.2 BaCuO.sub.5 (211) composition, and copper-enriched interfacial layers between the quasi-crystalline superconducting regions and the non-superconducting material zones, thereby providing a superconductive material, and then cooling the superconductive material, thereby providing a superconducting material having silver inclusions, the superconducting material having the quasi-crystalline superconducting regions separated from the non-superconducting material zones by the copper-enriched interfacial layers, wherein the copper-enriched interfacial layers function as Pinning centers. A new magnetic bearing based on the superconducting material is also described.

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Munich, Georgia

Gerhard Langbein