Super conducting metal-ceramic composite

Abstract

This invention permits superconducting ceramics, as well as other ceramic materials, to be spray deposited onto indefinitely large sheets of metallic substrate from a carboxylic acid salt solution. Elemental metal precursors of the superconductor are introduced into the solution as carboxylic acid salts. The deposit formed on the malleable metallic substrate is then thermomechanically calcined to form c-axis textured metal-superconductor composite sheet structures. These composite sheet structures can be formed by pressing together two ceramic-substrate structures, ceramic face-to-face, to form a metal-ceramic-metal sheet structure, or by overlaying a metal sheet over the deposited structure. Once the structure has been thermomechanically calcined, the c-axis of the superconductor is oriented parallel to the vector defining the plane of the metal sheet, i.e., perpendicular to the surface of the plane. These sheets of c-axis textured superconductor can then be mechanically worked as continuous superconducting filaments into larger composite structures with predetermined c-axis orientation. The fact that the c-axis of the superconductor is given predetermined orientation allows surface topologies to be mechanically constructed from these sheets that maximize the performance of the superconductor for a predetermined application or magnetic field environment.