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The current generation of mass manufactured high temperature superconducting tape is based on YBCO, which is a crystalline material (presumably what is meant here when saying ceramic). So the argument that superconductors need to be metallic/malleable to be useful doesn't really make a lot of sense.

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> presumably what is meant here when saying ceramic

Probably not. Being crystalline and being a ceramic are completely unrelated. Standard superconductors like niobium-tin and niobium-titanium are crystalline metals (intermetallic alloys). The vast majority of metals are crystalline, to the point that when a company tried to make a metallic glass a couple of years ago (under the name Liquid Metal), it made quite a bit of noise.

That's fine but YBCO is a crystalline ceramic.

Indeed. With a perovskite-related structure.

> to the point that when a company tried to make a metallic glass a couple of years ago (under the name Liquid Metal), it made quite a bit of noise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidmetal

YBCO isn't really used for anything. MRI machines use metallic NbTi even though it requires liquid helium because YBCO is too brittle and can't handle large currents.

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