The objective of this project is to fabricate a frictionless bearing from High Tc ceramic superconductors which would operate above 77 K. Rare earth magnets with a magnetic flux density of approximately 1 Tesla will be used to provide levitation pressures of approximately 0.1 MPa (1 bar). Rotation speeds of 3,000 to 10,000 RPM will be attempted, although speeds upto 100,000 RPM may be possible. The research will include several tasks. The important ones being the processing of the ceramic housing from yttrium barium cuprate superconducting ceramic by the superplastic sinter-forging method, and the design and implementation of the cooling system.
