Superconducting properties of powder-metallurgically produced Cu-Nb3Sn composite wires

The critical current density of composite superconducting wires can be improved by ternary or quaternary additions. If these additions are incorporated into the A15 phase the upper critical field can be increased. An increase in this field, however, can only be realized if the additions do not strongly deteriorate the critical temperature. An enhanced upper critical field in connection with a favorable grain size of the A15 phase finally leads to improved critical current densities in the entire field range. With these parameters as guidelines, the effects of Ti, In, Ga, and Ge additions to the bronze and of Ta additions to the niobium on the superconducting properties of PM produced Cu-Nb3Sn wires were investigated