Predicting electrical conductivity in bi-metal composites

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical model to predict how microstructure and composition affect electrical conductivity in bi-metal composites, aiding the discovery of materials suitable for high magnetic field applications.

Contribution

It generalizes previous work on Cu/Nb to other bi-metal composites, linking microstructure to electrical conductivity for material selection.

Findings

Predicts conductivity dependence on microstructure and volume fraction.

Identifies promising bi-metal composites for high magnetic field applications.

Provides a theoretical framework for material screening.

Abstract

Generating high magnetic fields requires materials with not only high electric conductivity, but also good strength properties in order to withstand the necessarily strong Lorentz forces. A number of bi-metal composites, most notably Cu/Nb, are considered to be good candidates for this purpose. Here, we generalize our previous work on Cu/Nb in order to predict, from theory, the dependence of electric conductivity on the microstructure and volume fraction of the less conductive component for a number of other bi-metal composites. Together with information on strength properties (taken from previous literature), the conductivity information we provide in this work can help to identify new promising candidate materials (such as Cu/Nb, Cu/Ag, Cu/W, ...) for magnet applications with the highest achievable field strengths.