One of the major impediments to the industrial take-up of high-temperature superconductors is the paucity of comprehensive, reliable and relevant performance data on commercially available wires. To address this, the Robinson Research Institute is making available its internal database of wire performance data, acquired on our in-house 1 kA critical current measurement system. The database is freely accessible via the world wide web at http://www.victoria.ac.nz/robinson/hts-wire-database and allows download of both graphical images of the data as well as the underlying data files. The database will continue to be expanded into the future, and submissions of commercially available wires for independent characterization and inclusion are invited. We demonstrate the utility of this data in terms of a case study on the design of our 1.5 T 2G HTS MRI system and by outlining a comparison of correlations between low-temperature and 77 K performance across 2G HTS wires sourced from different manufacturers that demonstrates that this is useful only for wires of a particular type produced under similar conditions (for example, several batches produced using the same process). These examples highlight the need for complete characterization of different wires under the operating conditions of interest.

A cryogenic electrical transport measurement system is described that is particularly designed to meet the requirements for routine and effective characterization of commercial second generation high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wires in the form of coated conductors based on YBa₂Cu₃O₇. Specific design parameters include a base temperature of 20 K, an applied magnetic field capability of 8 T (provided by a HTS split-coil magnet), and a measurement current capacity approaching 1 kA. The system accommodates samples up to 12 mm in width (the widest conductor size presently commercially available) and 40 mm long, although this is not a limiting size. The sample is able to be rotated freely with respect to the magnetic field direction about an axis parallel to the current flow, producing field angle variations in the standard maximum Lorentz force configuration. The system is completely free of liquid cryogens for both sample cooling and magnet cool-down and operation. Software enables the system to conduct a full characterization of the temperature, magnetic field, and field angle dependence of the critical current of a sample without any user interaction. The system has successfully been used to measure a wide range of experimental and commercially-available superconducting wire samples sourced from different manufacturers across the full range of operating conditions. The system encapsulates significant advances in HTS magnet design and efficient cryogen-free cooling technologies together with the capability for routine and automated high-current electrical transport measurements at cryogenic temperatures. It will be of interest to both research scientists investigating superconductor behavior and commercial wire manufacturers seeking to accurately characterize the performance of their product under all desired operating conditions.