I have absolutely zero clue on materials science, chemistry or physics of this experiment. Can anyone explain to me why some teams are able to replicate it while others can't?
Same here. So I wonder, is a superconducting material actually useful "in production" if it is a material that (say) crumbles easily / is not at all flexible ? If we want superconducting wires, does the material have to be ductile ?
It totally depends on the application and how you work around the trade offs. Considering the alternative is supercooling helium and the dealing with the issues of containing such a small atom, managing the fragility of a room temperature superconductor may have huge beneficial trade offs
This is why the copper wire in an electric motor is potted: the wire is what the forces in the motor act on, if the wire isn't rigidly fixed it will vibrate (and reduce efficiency) and that vibration will eventually wear through the insulation causing a short in the motor.
But it took three decades of experimentation to do that reliably.
It's kind of like playing Skee-ball at a fair. You aim for the center, but often miss into the outer rings. For this to work, you need to land a bunch of throws in the center in a row.