Material Characterization at Different Length Scales and at Different Steps During Superconducting Magnet Fabrication: Focus on Nb₃Sn Wires with Artificial Pinning Centers

by Jean-Francois Croteau (LBNL)

Friday 27 Oct 2023, 08:30 → 09:30 US/Pacific

Speaker: Dr. Jean-Francois Croteau

Host: Ian Pong

Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/5104867866

Title: Material Characterization at Different Length Scales and at Different Steps During Superconducting Magnet Fabrication: Focus on Nb₃Sn Wires with Artificial Pinning Centers

Abstract: 

Nb₃Sn is arguably the current state-of-the-art material for high field superconducting magnets in particle accelerator. However, current commercial wires cannot be used in proposed future colliders as their critical current in a background field of 16T is too low. Novel wires with artificial pinning centers made of oxide nanoprecipitates have been proposed and produced at short lengths to increase the conductor's critical current at higher fields. This study looks at different techniques to characterize these wires, i.e. to measure the size of the nanoprecipitates and to understand oxide decomposition during heat treatment.

This seminar will start by presenting the importance and the role of material characterization at different length scales during superconducting magnet fabrication, with some examples. In-depth results on the study on Nb₃Sn wires with artificial pinning centers will then be presented.

Biography: 

Jean-François obtained his bachelor in mechanical engineering from the University of Ottawa in Canada and his PhD from the École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées (ENSTA) Bretagne in France in 2021. He is currently a postdoc at Berkeley Lab's Berkeley Center for Magnet Technology working on superconducting material characterization at different length scales.

His research focuses on experimental characterization of microstructure and mechanical properties of multiple materials, from superconductors to metals and polymers. He has a particular interest in microscopy and image analysis. Finally, he particularly enjoys collaborating and learning from fellow researchers with different expertise.