Bruker Press Release: Bruker's Advanced Supercon Business Signs Cooperation Agreement with IFW Dresden for Further Development of MgB2 Superconducting Wire.
The Advanced Supercon business unit of Bruker has signed a formal cooperation agreement with the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research in Dresden, Germany (IFW Dresden) to jointly further develop magnesium diboride (MgB2) superconducting wire.
In the framework of this cooperation agreement, IFW Dresden will contribute existing know-how and future R+D results in MgB2 powder and conductor materials.
Bruker's Advanced Supercon business will contribute its broad experience and large-scale manufacturing capacity for all types of technical superconductors, including industrial scale-up, production, quality assurance and commercialization, particularly for MRI and energy research magnet applications.
The expanded collaboration between the Advanced Supercon business and IFW Dresden has the dual goals to further increase MgB2 wire critical currents and to produce a first one kilometre long wire segment within a year.
Future collaboration plans include large scale MgB2 wire production and collaboration with magnet manufacturers for next-generation MRI magnets, as well as for high-energy physics and fusion research magnets.
Burkhard Prause, managing director of the Advanced Supercon business, commented: "IFW Dresden is a performance leader in the development of MgB2 wire, and we have been collaborating with IFW Dresden for several years already.
"Our development results have reached the point where we decided to strengthen and expand our ongoing joint efforts to further develop MgB2 wire towards higher performance specifications and towards scaled-up industrial production.
"We believe that in the future there could be a large potential market for MgB2 wire in 'dry' MRI and energy research magnets operating without liquid helium at temperatures greater than 10 Kelvin".
Professor Ludwig Schultz, scientific director of the IFW Dresden, added: "Since the discovery of superconductivity in MgB2 in 2001 the IFW Dresden has developed new materials preparation routes based on mechanical alloying, which enable the synthesis of highly reactive MgB2 nanopowders with strongly improved superconducting properties.
"These powders proved to be excellent precursors for MgB2 powder-in-tube wires and last year we were able to set new records in their high magnetic field current capability.
"We are very pleased that in cooperation with Bruker's Advanced Supercon Business our successful research results will now be transferred towards industrial MgB2 wire production and we are convinced that the superconducting properties of MgB2 can still be significantly improved towards a new technical Medium-Temperature Superconductor (MTS) with wide industrial applicability."
