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Introduction to High-Temperature Superconductivity Thomas P. Sheahen (Plenum Press, 1994) ISBN: 0-306-44793-2

High-temperature superconductors (HTS) have the potential to have an enormous impact upon world commerce, particularly in the electronics and electric power industries. This book covers the science and technology of HTS at an introductory level. It will appeal to materials scientists, physicists, mechanical and electrical engineers, ceramists, chemists, and metallurgists. The book makes extensive use of information developed by the U.S. Department of Energy's national laboratories, by the entrepreneurial companies that are developing thin-film and "bulk" applications of HTS, and by researchers at many universities and companies in the United States and around the world. The book also uses a series of reports prepared for the Electric Power Research Institute as a starting point in the applications' chapters. The book is divided into five sections, with 28 chapters and two appendices, and each chapter is heavily referenced. Several of the chapters have co-authors from Argonne National Laboratory and private companies developing power applications. The first major section deals with an introduction to the history of superconductivity, cryogenics, and some of the modern-day applications of "conventional," NbTi or Nb3Sn superconducting wires and films. A fine chapter on refrigeration sets the stage for introduction of HTS and the excitement generated by HTS wires that are used at temperatures as low as 20 K. Discussions of wiremaking processes for metallic superconductors and two chapters on theory are also included in the first section. The second section covers the full range of properties of HTS. The chapters in this section present a comprehensive, detailed account of the synthesis of HTS, the issues associated with flux pinning, and mechanical properties of oxides and metallic sheath materials. An overview of HTS microscopic theory and a chapter on weak links completes the section. The section was written prior to development of compelling new evidence for percolative networks of small-angle grain boundaries that helps explain the high critical current densities obtained in polycrystalline-thallium and bismuth-based HTS tapes. The third section, "Carrying Electricity," begins with a chapter on flux pinning, the second major challenge (with weak links) facing HTS wire manufacturers. Two

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chapters cover processing, one dealing with powders and the other with fabricating useful wire forms with the powders. The issues of quench propagation and losses in HTS are covered in depth, and the summary of the likely behavior of HTS in the event of resistive zone propagation, which itself is (thankfully) difficult to initiate, has proven to be accurate. A chapter on each of the promising electric power applications is included in section four. The book covers transmission lines, levitation, energy storage, motors, and fault current limiters in enough detail to satisfy most scientists and engineers. The omission of