The initial promise of commercial applications of high temperature superconductivity (HTS) has not really materialised. However, scientists at Argonne National Labs and University of Pittsburgh, US, have found that adding a small amount of silver to the interior of a HTS wire increases the current-carrying capacity almost three-fold. Though ordinary HTS wires have a current capacity of about 30,000 amperes per sq cm (this being more than about 150 times that of a conventional copper conductor), silver-added HTS has a capacity of about 100,000 amperes per sq cm ( Science , Vol 273, No 5272).
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