The strong influence of Ti, Zr, Hf solutes and their oxidation on microstructure and performance of Nb3Sn superconductors

Xu, X.; Peng, X.; Rochester, J.; Sumption, M. D.; Lee, J.; Calderon Ortiz, G. A.; Hwang, J.

doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2020.158270

Title: The strong influence of Ti, Zr, Hf solutes and their oxidation on microstructure and performance of Nb₃Sn superconductors

Abstract

The strong influence of Ti, Zr, Hf solutes and their oxidation on microstructure and performance of Nb₃Sn superconductors Over the last few years a new type of Nb₃Sn superconducting composite based on the internal oxidation approach has emerged and has demonstrated performance significantly superior to conventional Nb₃Sn. It requires a supply of O and the use of a Nb alloy – Nb-X, where X is a solute element that can be selectively oxidized to form oxide particles within the Nb₃Sn. Such oxide particles not only refine Nb₃Sn grain size, but also have the proper size to act as artificial pinning centers (APC) directly restraining fluxon motion, and thus dramatically improve superconducting properties. In this article we show that the size and volume fraction of the oxide particles determine both the levels of grain refinement and the shift in the peak field of the flux pinning force (F_p-B) curve. Additionally, we explore the factors influencing these microstructure and properties, which we find include: selection of the solute element X, solute content, O content, and heat treatment. For the selection of X, we searched the periodic table for all promising candidates but focused down on the group-IVB elements (Ti, Zr, Hf) here asmore »« less

Authors:

Xu, X. ^[1]; Peng, X. ^[2]; Rochester, J. ^[3]; Sumption, M. D. ^[3]; Lee, J. ^[1]; Calderon Ortiz, G. A. ^[3]; Hwang, J. ^[3]

Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
Hyper Tech Research Inc., Columbus, OH (United States)
The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)

Publication Date:: Thu Dec 10 00:00:00 EST 2020

Research Org.:: Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)

OSTI Identifier:: 1763407

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1778280

Report Number(s):: FERMILAB-PUB-20-564-TD
Journal ID: ISSN 0925-8388; oai:inspirehep.net:1835893; TRN: US2205975

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-07CH11359; SC0013849; SC0017755

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Journal of Alloys and Compounds

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 857; Journal ID: ISSN 0925-8388

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS; Nb3Sn superconductor; internal oxidation; grain size; precipitation; flux pinning

Citation Formats


                    Xu, X., Peng, X., Rochester, J., Sumption, M. D., Lee, J., Calderon Ortiz, G. A., and Hwang, J. The strong influence of Ti, Zr, Hf solutes and their oxidation on microstructure and performance of Nb3Sn superconductors.  United States: N. p., 2020. 
Web.  doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2020.158270.

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                    Xu, X., Peng, X., Rochester, J., Sumption, M. D., Lee, J., Calderon Ortiz, G. A., & Hwang, J. The strong influence of Ti, Zr, Hf solutes and their oxidation on microstructure and performance of Nb3Sn superconductors.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2020.158270

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                    Xu, X., Peng, X., Rochester, J., Sumption, M. D., Lee, J., Calderon Ortiz, G. A., and Hwang, J. Thu .  
"The strong influence of Ti, Zr, Hf solutes and their oxidation on microstructure and performance of Nb3Sn superconductors".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2020.158270.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1763407.

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@article{osti_1763407,

  title        = {The strong influence of Ti, Zr, Hf solutes and their oxidation on microstructure and performance of Nb3Sn superconductors},

  author       = {Xu, X. and Peng, X. and Rochester, J. and Sumption, M. D. and Lee, J. and Calderon Ortiz, G. A. and Hwang, J.},

  abstractNote = {The strong influence of Ti, Zr, Hf solutes and their oxidation on microstructure and performance of Nb3Sn superconductors  Over the last few years a new type of Nb3Sn superconducting composite based on the internal oxidation approach has emerged and has demonstrated performance significantly superior to conventional Nb3Sn. It requires a supply of O and the use of a Nb alloy – Nb-X, where X is a solute element that can be selectively oxidized to form oxide particles within the Nb3Sn. Such oxide particles not only refine Nb3Sn grain size, but also have the proper size to act as artificial pinning centers (APC) directly restraining fluxon motion, and thus dramatically improve superconducting properties. In this article we show that the size and volume fraction of the oxide particles determine both the levels of grain refinement and the shift in the peak field of the flux pinning force (Fp-B) curve. Additionally, we explore the factors influencing these microstructure and properties, which we find include: selection of the solute element X, solute content, O content, and heat treatment. For the selection of X, we searched the periodic table for all promising candidates but focused down on the group-IVB elements (Ti, Zr, Hf) here as the drawability of Nb3Sn wires made from Nb-Ti, Nb-Zr, and Nb-Hf alloys has been demonstrated in the past few decades. We found that while internally oxidizing Nb-1.5at.%Ti led to negligible grain refinement and Fp-B peak shift, Nb-Zr alloys led to much more dramatic results, and internally oxidizing Nb-Hf alloys led to the strongest grain refinement and Fp-B peak shift. For Hf alloying in particular, we compared our internal oxidation method with another method for grain refinement, which uses Hf alloying itself without oxidation, and found that internal oxidation led to much stronger grain refinement and Fp-B peak shift. We also found that higher solute content and lower reaction temperature led to stronger grain refinement and Fp-B peak shift. We conclude with a discussion of the possible mechanisms for the influence of these factors.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.jallcom.2020.158270},

  journal      = {Journal of Alloys and Compounds},

  number       = ,

  volume       = 857,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Thu Dec 10 00:00:00 EST 2020},

  month        = {Thu Dec 10 00:00:00 EST 2020}

}

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Title: The strong influence of Ti, Zr, Hf solutes and their oxidation on microstructure and performance of Nb3Sn superconductors

Abstract

Citation Formats

Beneficial influence of Hf and Zr additions to Nb4at%Ta on the vortex pinning of Nb 3 Sn with and without an O source journal, February 2019

Targets for R&D on Nb 3 Sn Conductor for High Energy Physics journal, June 2015

Influence of heat treatment temperature and Ti doping on low-field flux jumping and stability in (Nb-Ta) 3 Sn strands journal, August 2014

Scaling laws for flux pinning in hard superconductors journal, March 1973

Effects of inhomogeneities on pinning force scaling in Nb 3 Sn wires journal, June 2018

Flux pinning mechanisms in type II superconductors journal, August 1974

FCC-hh: The Hadron Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 3 journal, July 2019

Effects of the IVa element addition on the composite-processed superconducting Nb3Sn journal, October 1981

Persistent compositions of non-stoichiometric compounds with low bulk diffusivity: A theory and application to Nb3Sn superconductors journal, December 2020

On grain boundary drag from second phase particles journal, November 1983

Internally Oxidized Nb 3 Sn Strands with Fine Grain Size and High Critical Current Density journal, January 2015

Evolution of the superconducting properties from binary to ternary APC-Nb 3 Sn wires journal, February 2021

Flux pinning centers in superconducting Nb 3 Sn journal, May 1975

A review and prospects for Nb 3 Sn superconductor development journal, August 2017

High critical current density in internally-oxidized Nb3Sn superconductors and its origin journal, September 2020

Ternary Nb 3 Sn superconductors with artificial pinning centers and high upper critical fields journal, January 2019

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Title: The strong influence of Ti, Zr, Hf solutes and their oxidation on microstructure and performance of Nb₃Sn superconductors

Beneficial influence of Hf and Zr additions to Nb4at%Ta on the vortex pinning of Nb 3 Sn with and without an O source
journal, February 2019

Targets for R&D on Nb ₃ Sn Conductor for High Energy Physics
journal, June 2015

Influence of heat treatment temperature and Ti doping on low-field flux jumping and stability in (Nb-Ta) ₃ Sn strands
journal, August 2014

Scaling laws for flux pinning in hard superconductors
journal, March 1973

Effects of inhomogeneities on pinning force scaling in Nb ₃ Sn wires
journal, June 2018

Flux pinning mechanisms in type II superconductors
journal, August 1974

FCC-hh: The Hadron Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 3
journal, July 2019

Effects of the IVa element addition on the composite-processed superconducting Nb3Sn
journal, October 1981

Persistent compositions of non-stoichiometric compounds with low bulk diffusivity: A theory and application to Nb3Sn superconductors
journal, December 2020

On grain boundary drag from second phase particles
journal, November 1983

Internally Oxidized Nb ₃ Sn Strands with Fine Grain Size and High Critical Current Density
journal, January 2015

Evolution of the superconducting properties from binary to ternary APC-Nb ₃ Sn wires
journal, February 2021

Flux pinning centers in superconducting Nb ₃ Sn
journal, May 1975

A review and prospects for Nb ₃ Sn superconductor development
journal, August 2017

High critical current density in internally-oxidized Nb3Sn superconductors and its origin
journal, September 2020

Ternary Nb ₃ Sn superconductors with artificial pinning centers and high upper critical fields
journal, January 2019

Optimization of Heat Treatment Profiles Applied to Nanometric-Scale ${\rm Nb}_{3}{\rm Sn}$ Wires With Cu-Sn Artificial Pinning Centers
journal, June 2011

Challenges and Perspectives of the Phase Formation of Internally Oxidized PIT-Type Nb ₃ Sn Conductors
journal, June 2020

Performance Boost in Industrial Multifilamentary Nb3Sn Wires due to Radiation Induced Pinning Centers
journal, June 2015

Superconducting critical temperatures, critical magnetic fields, lattice parameters, and chemical compositions of ‘‘bulk’’ pure and alloyed Nb ₃ Sn produced by the bronze process
journal, February 1986