Inert Gas Buffered Milling and Particle Size Separation of Îźm-Scale Superconducting Precursor Powders

Seshadri, S.¹  McIntyre, P.¹ 

[1] Accelerator Technology Corp., College Station, TX (United States)

关键词: superconductor;    powder;    aerosol;    ceramics;    metallurgy;   

DOI  :  10.2172/933000
RP-ID  :  DOE/ER/84344--01Final Report
PID  :  OSTI ID: 933000

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

The project developed an aerosol system for the met milling and particle size separation of the precursor powders used in fabrication of powder-in-tube superconductors. The work builds upon the results of a previous SBIR-funded development that proved the basic principles of the virtual impactor (VI) technology and its efficacy for the powders of interest. The new project extended that work in three respects: it integrated provisions for recirculating the aerosol flow using inert gas to avoid contamination from O2, CO2 and water in ambient air; a quad configuration of VI subassemblies to support kg/hr throughput; and it incorporated design features that eliminate error trajectories which would introduce trace contamination of larger particles into the separated flow. The project demonstrated the technical effectiveness of the process and established its economic feasibility by achieving kg/hr throughput within a cost profile that would be profitable within the range of competitive toll fees. The project is beneficial to the public through its potential to improve the performance of superconducting materials for research and for biomedicine. It also conveys potential benefits for powders used in high-performance ceramics (for example for engines for automobiles and for aircraft) and for high-performance electrical insulators for telecommunications circuitry.