Evaluation of APC NbTi superconductor in a model dipole magnet

The artificial pinning center (APC) approach to NbTi superconductor fabrication offers the potential benefits of higher current density and lower cost than the conventional process for NbTi. The authors have been evaluating several approaches for fabricating NbTi via the APC approach to determine whether these advantages can be realized in a practical conductor. The study began with the fabrication by several vendors of 10 kg size samples which were evaluated as short samples. This was followed by the scale-up of one process to 150mm diameter billets. This material was evaluated first in a solenoid configuration and recently in a one-meter long dipole. They will report here on the results of these coil tests and other characterization results for this new material. They will also describe the plans to continue the scale-up to full size billets and they will discuss the potential cost savings of this approach compared with conventional NbTi fabrication