Man-Made Material Pushes the Bounds of Superconductivity

An anonymous reader writes "A multi-university team of researchers has artificially engineered a unique multilayer material that could lead to breakthroughs in both superconductivity research and in real-world applications. The researchers can tailor the material, which seamlessly alternates between metal and oxide layers, to achieve extraordinary superconducting properties — in particular, the ability to transport much more electrical current than non-engineered materials."

Comments

Re:Resistance and temperature

[BlueStrat]

It is simplistic to think that power transmission is the major application.

If a practical (not requiring extreme/complex/large/heavy systems) superconducting electrical conductor material became commonly available at reasonable costs, count on it being used to make powerful and practical electromagnetic railgun-type rifles/pistols, as well as larger weapons systems whose performance and lethality can far-outstrip similar-class conventional firearms.

Imagine a gunpowder-less fully automatic rifle-like weapon that can make Swiss-cheese of a Bradley FV's armor, take down combat helicopters, etc, with only the snap of the high-velocity projectiles' sonic boom. Or a spec-ops/sniper/assassination gun that fires a larger-caliber (~.45-cal?) sub-sonic projectile with less noise than any normally-silenced/suppressed modern gunpowder-based firearm could.

This is all even more possible if this material (or better ones developed in the near future) can be used to greatly enhance energy storage density/weight/size ratios as well.

It could make for a very flexible weapon, as theoretically, the rate of fire and muzzle velocity could be made adjustable by the user to adapt to a wide range of combat scenarios and target types, amount of charge and/or projectile ammo remaining, etc.

Strat