Neutron-irradiation effects in the pseudobinary compound Nb3(SnGa): changes in T/sub c/, I/sub c/, and flux pinning

Specimens of single-core wires of Nb3(SnGa) have been neutron irradiated at approximately 1000C to fluences of 2.6x1019 n/cm2 (E>1.0 MeV). Measurements of I/sub c/ at 4.2 K in transverse magnetic fields to 22 T and measurements of T/sub c/ were made. The interest in this material (approximately lat.%Ga in the Nb3Sn layer made by the ''bronze process'') stems from the greater values of critical properties (T/sub c/=17.4 K, H/sub c2/approximately equals 22.5 T) relative to those of Nb3Sn. Results are given for two different specimen reaction temperatures, 700 and 750;degree;C. Increases in I;sub c; for low-fluence (<3x1018 n/cm2) irradiations similar to those observed for Nb3Sn were observed, but with greater relative increases for the specimens (7500C) that had the lower initial current density. Decreases in I/sub c/ at higher fluences scaled with the measured decreases in T/sub c/ similar to behavior of Nb3Sn. Increases in H/sub c2/ of the lower-temperature-reacted specimens were much smaller than those observed in Nb3Sn in Nb;sub 3;Sn. In the higher-temperature-reacted specimens, the lack of any H/sub c2/ increases at all suggests that some kind of limiting mechanism is active. For neutron fluences above approximately equals5x1018 n/cm2 the limiting of H/sub c2/ is not in evidence