Application of the supercon APC process to Nb-Ti-Ta ternary conductors

Journal Article · Sun Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1997 · Advances in Cryogenic Engineering

OSTI ID:483600

Rudziak, M K; Seuntjens, J M; Wong, T; Wong, J ^[1]

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1. American Superconductor Corp., Westboro, MA (United States)

Supercon, Inc. has pursued the development of Nb-Ti-Ta ternary conductors fabricated via their unique APC (artificial pinning center) route. The process has been successfully utilized in the fabrication of NbTi conductors. Pure Nb and pure Ti sheets are alternately layered to form a Nb/Ti composite monofilament. Subsequent processing includes a heating step in which a controlled amount of diffusion occurs, forming superconducting NbTi alloy at the sheet interfaces. The result is a superconducting/normal structure that provides excellent J{sub c} (critical current density) performance when reduced to final size. The success of the Supercon APC process for binary Nb/Ti has led to investigations of ternary APC Nb-Ti-Ta composites. Ternary materials offer the promise of enhanced H{sub c2} (upper critical field) performance at low temperature ({approximately}1.8K) as compared to standard binary materials. Such performance enhancement is desirable for high energy physics applications, particularly in machines such as the proposed Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The Supercon process may afford a comparatively inexpensive, convenient way to manufacture ternary conductor. The authors will give an overview of their development efforts in this area and their present understanding of the key process parameters.

• OSTI ID: 483600
• Report Number(s): CONF-950722--
• Journal Information: Advances in Cryogenic Engineering, Journal Name: Advances in Cryogenic Engineering Vol. 42B; ISSN 0065-2482; ISSN ACYEAC
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CRITICAL CURRENT
CRITICAL FIELD
FABRICATION
NIOBIUM ALLOYS
SUPERCONDUCTING WIRES
TANTALUM ALLOYS
TERNARY ALLOY SYSTEMS
TITANIUM ALLOYS