Scientist in Charge: Dr. Joachim Bock

www.nexans.de

Expertise and experience

NSC is a leading supplier worldwide for HTS materials and components. It belongs to the Nexans group (the former cable sector of Alcatel), the leading cable manufacturer in Europe. NSC is a multidisciplinary team of chemists, materials scientists, physicists and electrical engineers with a 15 years expertise in development and production of YBCO and BSCCO bulk materials and components as well as precursors for 1st generation BSCCO tapes. During the last three years, NSC has successfully developed an all-chemical route for 2nd generation REBCO tapes.
The latest advances of the company are:

1. Application of BSCCO bulk materials for a world largest fault current limiting (FCL) device successfully tested in 2004-2005 in the 10 kV German power grid (Siegen, Germany) and further development of FCL devices for higher-voltage (22, 110, and 138 kV) levels;
2. Construction in 2005 of the world’s first complete superconducting magnetic bearing system based on YBCO single-domain bulk materials for an all HTS Siemens superconducting motor;
3. Development of high-quality Bi2212 precursor used in 2003 for producing conductors for the world-first 25T superconducting magnet (NHMFL, Oxford Superconducting Technology, USA);
4. Setting up laboratory and pilot-plant production facilities for REBCO coated conductors that allow NSC to participate and lead the projects on coated conductor technology.
   

NSC actively cooperates with industrial and academic partners and is involved in a number of European (Hiperchem, Super3C, SlimFormer), nationally (CULT110, SupraNanoSol, Dynostore) and customer (DAPAS, Siemens) funded projects. As a partner in the proposed network, NSC offers its expertise in industrial production and quality management of HTS products. NSC is a node within the European SCENET-2 network and a member of CONECTUS. The operation has actually 23 employees and is headed by Dr. Joachim Bock (managing director).
During the last three years NSC hosted for training (3 to 12 months) six undergraduate students, two PhD students, and one post doc from France, Spain, USA, and Russia. They were involved in development, production, and quality control acquiring/improving their expertise in chemical-solution deposition techniques for YBCO CC, top-seeded melt growth with optical control, sample characterization with standard techniques (SQUID magnetometry, high-resolution XRD, FESEM/EDX, AFM, DTA/TGA) and unique equipment (DC measurements up to 1500 A, levitation-force measurements from 77 to 20 K).

Role in the project

As a partner in the proposed network, NSC will perform research in the area of scale-up HTSC materials developed in the NESPA RTN. NSC also offers for training activities its expertise in industrial production and quality management of HTS products.

Key scientific staff

Dr. Joachim Bock; Dr. Mark Rikel (wire development); Dr. Wolf (chemical processing); Mr. H. Walter (processing bulk materials).