微小重力下超電導体製造プロジェクト

抄録

Large single-grain bulk rare earth element (RE)-Ba-Cu-O superconductors can be used for various applications such as magnetic bearings, load transport and trapped field magnets. The magnetic field generated by bulk RE-Ba-Cu-O superconductors is proportional to its radius, however, the growth of a large single-grain bulk with good quality is difficult due to contamination from the substrate or the crucible and also due to liquid loss. Such problems can be solved by growing RE-Ba-Cu-O bulk in a microgravity environment, where the bulk can be supported by a seed crystal alone during crystal growth. Such experiments will be conducted in the Unmanned Space Experiment Recovery System (USERS) project. In this paper, the experiment plan and the present status of the system development are reported.