With intensive and broad R&D efforts of more than two decades, rare earth (RE) based second generation (2G) high temperature superconducting (HTS) wire has now become an emerging material commercially available to a wide range of scientific, industrial and medical applications including high-field magnets, fault current limiters (FCL), motors & generators, transformers, and power cables. High engineering critical current density, high mechanical strength, and high irreversibility field are the major advantages of the 2G HTS wires over the low temperature superconducting (LTS) wires and the bismuth-based first generation (1G) HTS wires. 2G HTS wires with critical current Ic (77 K, self-field) of 300 ∼ 500 A/cm-w and piece lengths of a few hundred meters are being routinely produced. Past and ongoing demonstration projects using the 2G HTS wires suggest that the practical application of this new material is appealing, promising and challenging. Further improvement in wire's performance is desired and wire's price is to be reduced. In this talk, the 2G HTS wire's performance characteristics will be presented. Important properties including in-field Ic, electromechanical behaviors, uniformity, and stability are discussed. Some of the application projects will also be presented, showcasing the great potential of the enabling material.
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