Metal Matrix Superconductor Composites for Flight-Weight Microwave Lightcraft Magnets

摘要

Flight-weight superconducting magnets are designed for a 20-m diameter MicroWave LightCraft (MWLC). The twin coil unit with storage capacity of 900 MJ, is made of structural carbon fiber filaments with a superconducting MgCNi3 high current density film surface layer, imbedded in a beryllium stabilizer matrix of high electrical and thermal conductivity. These “bucking” magnets run circumferentially about the lightcraft rim, and provide a 2-Tesla magnetic field necessary for the craft's hypersonic MHD slipstream accelerator. Each magnet is comprised of a single 22 cm diameter, hollow cylindrical cable made from metal matrix composites for superconductors (MMSc) with integral coolant passageways for circulating liquid-helium coolant to prevent the magnets from warming above the superconductive transition temperature. Each is suspended inside a 30-cm diameter toroidal vacuum tube, braced by a radial mesh of high-strength insulating fibers loaded in tension. For a coil separation distance of 1.4 m, each coil has a calculated mass of 1365 kg which is within 2x of the ultimate objective.