Future prospects for Nb3Sn and V3Ga multifilamentary conductors

Since the discovery of the bronze process for fabrication of multifilamentary Nb3Sn and V3Ga composite wires, significant progress has been made in the production of commercial-scale conductors with these compounds. However, improvements in the values of the critical-current density J/sub c/+ (the matrix and the superconductors) of these wires are desired and appear possible for high-magnetic-field applications. In this section, an attempt is made to assess the value of the current density which could be achieved in the future in multifilamentary Nb3Sn and V3Ga at magnetic fields above 10 tesla. In order to do this, promising superconducting properties of experimental wires at high fields are summarized, and based on these values, achievable J/sub c/+ in multifilamentary Nb3Sn and V3GA wires are estimated. In the process, some suggestions for approaches to improve J/sub c/+ are discussed