One of the main challenges to the widespread adoption of bulk superconductors in applications is the limited mechanical strength of these brittle ceramic materials. In moderate magnetic fields of over 6 T the tensile stresses from the trapped magnetic begin to exceed the material’s strength which means some form of materials strengthening or reinforcement is vital if large trapped fields are to be achieved.

In this talk I will discuss the challenges to characterise the strength of these materials and describe some of the approaches we have taken in Cambridge to measurement. I will discuss routes to reinforcement of these materials and present recent results on the fibre reinforcement and hybrid stack approaches to addressing these problems. Finally I will present results that indicate that reinforcement provides the prospect of more reliable, rather than simply stronger materials.

Keywords: Bulk, Reinforcement, Trapped Field