Permanent magnet with MgB2 bulk superconductor

Superconductors with persistent zero-resistance currents serve as permanent magnets for high-field applications requiring a strong and stable magnetic field, such as magnetic resonance imaging. The recent global helium shortage has quickened research into high-temperature superconductors (HTSs)-materials that can be used without conventional liquid-helium cooling to 4.2 K. Herein, we demonstrate that 40-K-class metallic HTS magnesium diboride (MgB2) makes an excellent permanent bulk magnet, maintaining 3 T at 20 K for 1 week with an extremely high stability (<0.1 ppm/h). The magnetic field trapped in this magnet is uniformly distributed, as for single-crystalline neodymium-iron-boron. Magnetic hysteresis loop of the MgB2 permanent bulk magnet was detrmined. Because MgB2 is a simple-binary-line compound that does not contain rare-earth metals, polycrystalline bulk material can be industrially fabricated at low cost and with high yield to serve as strong magnets that are compatible with conventional compact cryocoolers, making MgB2 bulks promising for the next generation of Tesla-class permanent-magnet applications. (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.