Continuous determination of the cross section area of the components of a niobium-titanium superconducting conductor

Multifilamentary superconducting conductors, which are usually manufactured by hot extrusion and cold drawing, consist of bundles of small diameter superconducting filaments embedded in a normal conducting matrix. It is most desirable for the magnet designer as well as for the conductor manufacturer to control the uniformity of properties along the length of conductors which will be used in large magnets. In this paper a continuous monitoring of the superconducting and normal matrix areas through a nondestructive sampling procedure over the whole length of a superconducting conductor is presented. (author)