Internal Tin ${\hbox {Nb}}_{3}{\hbox {Sn}}$ Conductors Engineered for Fusion and Particle Accelerator Applications

Abstract

The critical current density (J <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</sub> ) of Nb <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> Sn strand has been significantly improved over the last several years. For most magnet applications, high J <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</sub> internal tin has displaced bronze process strand. The highest J <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</sub> values are obtained from distributed barrier strands. We have continued development of strands made with Nb-47 wt%Ti rods to supply the dopant, and have achieved J <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</sub> values of 3000 A/mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> (12 T, 4.2 K). Such wires have very good higher field performance as well, reaching 1700 A/mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> at 15 T. To reduce the effective filament diameter in these high J <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</sub> strands, the number of subelement rods incorporated into the final restack billet has been increased to 127 in routine production, and results are presented on experimental 217 stacks. A new re-extrusion technique for improving the monofilament shape is also described. For fusion applications such as ITER, we have developed single-barrier internal tin strands having non-Cu J <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</sub> values over 1100 A/mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> (12 T, 4.2 K) with hysteresis losses less than 700 mJ/cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> over non-Cu volume. The J <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</sub> -strain behavior of such composites is also presented.