The fabrication of bulk magnet stacked with HTS tapes for the magnetic levitation

With the innovative development of bio, pharmaceutical, and semiconductor technologies, it is essential to demand a next-generation transfer system that minimizes dust and vibrations generated during the manufacturing process. In order to develop dust-free and non-contact transfer systems, the high temperature superconductor (HTS) bulks have been applied as a magnet for levitation. However, sintered HTS bulk magnets are limited in their applications due to their relatively low critical current density (J_c) of several kA/cm² and low mechanical properties as a ceramic material. In addition, during cooling to cryogenic temperatures repeatedly, cracks and damage may occur by thermal shock. On the other hand, the bulk magnets made by stacked HTS tapes have various advantages, such as relatively high mechanical properties by alternate stacking of the metal and ceramic layer, high magnetic levitation performance by using coated conductors with high J_c of several MA/cm², consistent superconducting properties, miniaturization, light-weight, etc. In this study, we tried to fabricate HTS tapes stacked bulk magnets with 60 mm × 60 mm area and various numbers of HTS tape stacked layers for magnetic levitation. In order to examine the levitation forces of bulk magnets stacked with HTS tapes from 1 to 16 layers, specialized force measurement apparatus was made and adapted to measure the levitation force. By increasing the number of HTS tapes stacked layers, the levitation force of bulk magnet become larger. 16 HTS tapes stacked bulk magnets show promising levitation force of about 23.5 N, 6.538 kPa at 10 mm of levitated distance from NdFeB permanent magnet.