A Cost-Effective Technical Approach to Fabricating High Jc Bronze-Route (Nb,Ti)3Sn Superconducting Wire for Fusion Applications

41161 Supercon, Inc. This project will investigate the possibility of developing a superconducting composite wire in a cost-effective way. It is expected that use of composite filaments instead of alloy filaments will greatly improve the fabricability of the superconducting wire and cut the production cost. In addition, substitution of regular bronze with high tin bronze can enhance the overall efficiency of the conductor. In this project, three superconducting wires will be fabricated using a bronze-route process. Two of these wires have the same composite filaments but different bronze matrix. The other contains alloy filaments and a regular bronze matrix. A binary superconducting wire will also be fabricated and tested. The wire drawability, conductivity in high magnetic fields, magnetization (hysteresis loss), and microstructure of these four wires will be measured and analyzed. The further optimization and scale-up work will be conducted in Phase II. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Superconducting wire with superior performance characteristics and reduced fabrication cost should be an ideal candidate to be used for construction of superconducting magnets in large-scale fusion projects as well as in accelerator and nuclear magnetic resonance projects.