Superconducting properties of Nb3Al multifilamentary wire

Abstract

Nb3Al multifilamentary wire has been fabricated by a newly developed process, in which a composite consisting of a niobium matrix and a large number of Al-Mg alloy cores is cold drawn into a wire with ultrafine Al-Mg alloy filaments (about 0.1 μm), and then heat treated to form Nb3Al filaments by the diffusion reaction between the Al-Mg alloy cores and the Nb matrix. The wire shows excellent high-field superconducting properties comparable to those of the practical Nb3Sn multifilamentary wire.