Study of the superconducting layer microstructure and (Nb,Ti,Ta)₃Sn bronze strands properties

Abstract

Superconducting materials with high current carrying capacity operating in magnetic fields up to 18 T at 4.2 K are required for promising applications in magnetic systems of high-energy physics devices, NMR-spectroscopes and others. The paper presents the study results of the Nb3Sn strands manufactured by the bronze route differed in the filament composition. The filaments were made from the alloys Nb-3.5 wt. %Ta and Nb-7.0wt.%Ta and the matrix was produced from the Cu-15.5wt.%Sn-0.25wt.%Ti alloy. To form the superconducting Nb3Sn phase a series of reaction heat treatments of conductor samples were carried out by two-stage regimes with the temperature of the second stage varying from 650 to 720 °C. The microstructure of the Nb3Sn layer was studied by scanning electron microscopy and their electro-physical characteristics were also measured. It was shown that after reaction at 575 °C, 100 h + 650 °C, 200 h samples with different Ta content had almost the same current -carrying capacity in the field range 12-18 T at 4.2 K. The critical temperature of superconductors decreased from 17.5 to 16.5 K with an increase of the second stage of reaction temperature from 650 to 720 °C.