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Numerical modelling of iron-pnictide bulk superconductor magnetisation

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

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Article

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Authors

Ainslie, MD 
Yamamoto, A 
Fujishiro, H 
Weiss, JD 
Hellstrom, EE 

Abstract

The iron-based superconductors exhibit a number of properties attractive for applications, including low anisotropy, high upper critical magnetic fields (Hc2) in excess of 90 T and intrinsic critical current densities above 1 MA/cm2 (0 T, 4.2 K). It was shown recently that bulk iron-pnictide superconducting magnets capable of trapping over 1 T (5 K) and 0.5 T (20 K) can be fabricated with fine-grain polycrystalline Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2 (Ba122). These Ba122 magnets were processed by a scalable, versatile and low-cost method using common industrial ceramic processing techniques. In this paper, a standard numerical modelling technique, based on a 2D axisymmetric finite-element model implementing the H-formulation, is used to investigate the magnetisation properties of such iron-pnictide bulk superconductors. Using the measured Jc(B, T) characteristics of a small specimen taken from a bulk Ba122 sample, experimentally measured trapped fields are reproduced well for a single bulk, as well as a stack of bulks. Additionally, the influence of the geometric dimensions (thickness and diameter) on the trapped field is analysed, with a view of fabricating larger samples to increase the magnetic field available from such TFMs. It is shown that, with current state-of-the-art superconducting properties, surface trapped fields > 2 T could readily be achieved at 5 K (and > 1 T at 20 K) with a sample of diameter 50 mm. Finally, an aspect ratio of between 1-1.5 for R/H (radius/thickness) would be an appropriate compromise between the accessible, surface trapped field and volume of superconducting material for bulk Ba122 magnets.

Description

Keywords

bulk superconductors, critical current density (superconductivity), finite-element method, iron pnictides, numerical simulation, trapped field magnets‎

Journal Title

Superconductor Science and Technology

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0953-2048
1361-6668

Volume Title

30

Publisher

IoP
Sponsorship
Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) (10216/113)
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (15K04646)
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (15H05519)
Mark Ainslie would like to acknowledge financial support from a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship. Hiroyuki Fujishiro would like to acknowledge financial support from JSPS KAKENHI Grant No. 15K04646. The work at NHMFL was supported NSF DMR-1306785, by the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, which is supported by the National Science Foundation under NSF/DMR-1157490, and by the State of Florida. The work at TUAT was supported by MEXT Elements Strategy Initiative to Form Core Research Center and by JSPS KAKENHI Grant No. JP15H05519.