COLLABORATION IN BASIC SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (COBASE)

This COBASE grant provided Anatolii Polyanskii of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with the opportunity to work with Ivan Parinov of Rostov State University on a study of the properties of BSCCO tapes. According to Polyanskii, “one of the major obstacles preventing the use of BSCCO superconductors in engineering applications is the irreproducibility of desired properties in long lengths. In this case, the mechanical properties of the tapes and their behavior under stress are very important for practical application.” Polyanskii and Parinov worked to address these problems during an exchange of visits that began when Parinov spent October 2001 working with his American colleague at Madison. During the visit, Parinov familiarized himself with BSCCO tape manufacturing techniques and experimental techniques used in Polyanskii’s laboratory for studying the structure-sensitive properties of high-temperature superconductor (HTSC) samples. The Russian visitor also presented the results of his research on HTSC mechanical and strength properties and discussed with his host the possibility of using acoustic emission to estimate deformation and damage of the samples.

Polyanskii visited Parinov in Rostov for six weeks in September-October 2002 to carry out a number of mechanical tests of monocore and multifilament BSCCO/Ag tapes manufactured in Madison on a special experimental device developed in Rostov. Polyanskii also discussed the results of recent magneto-optic (MO) studies of HTSC carried out at his university, and then he and Parinov carried out a preliminary MO study on a few bending tapes to compare the results with data from acoustic emission testing.

The two colleagues presented their findings at the Cryogenic Engineering Conference and International Cryogenic Materials Conference in Anchorage, Alaska, in 2003 and hope to pursue funding opportunities to allow them to continue their collaboration.