Item CERN-OBJ-AC-051 - Sample of superconducting wiring (Niobium Titanium)

Object

About NbTi cable: The cable consists of 36 strands of superconducting wire, each strand has a diameter of 0.825 mm and houses 6300 superconducting filaments of niobium-titanium (Nb-Ti, a superconducting alloy). Each filament has a diameter of about 0.006 mm, i.e. 10 times smaller than a typical human hair. The filaments are embedded in a high-purity copper matrix. Copper is a normal conducting material. The filaments are in the superconductive state when the temperature is below about -263ºC (10.15 K). When the filaments leave the superconductive state, the copper acts as conductor transports the electrical current. Each strand of The NbTi cable (at superconducting state) has a current density of up to above 2000 A/mm2 at 9 T and -271ºC (2.15 K). A cable transport a current of about 13000 A at 10 T and -271ºC (2.15 K). About LHC superconducting wiring: The high magnetic fields needed for the LHC can only be reached using superconductors. At very low temperatures, superconductors have no electrical resistance and therefore no power loss. The LHC will be the largest superconducting installation ever built and, at 1.9 degrees above absolute zero (300 degrees below room temperature), one of the the coldest objects in the universe! Magnet coils are made of copper-clad niobium–titanium cables — each wire in the cable consists of 9000 niobium–titanium filaments ten times finer than a hair. The cables carry up to 12 500 amps and must withstand enormous electromagnetic forces. At full field, the force on one metre of magnet is comparable to the weight of a jumbo jet. Coil winding requires great care to prevent movements as the field changes. Friction can create hot spots which “quench” the magnet and ruin its superconductivity. A quench in any of the LHC superconducting magnets would stop machine operation.

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