Abstract
This year marks the 50-years anniversary of the discovery of Nb3Sn compound by Professor B.T. Matthias. The first Nb3Sn conductor was fabricated in 1960, and since then it has contributed much for generating fields over 10 T at 4.2 K. A variety of processes have been applied for the fabrication of Nb3Sn. The effect of Cu on the enhancement of Nb3Sn synthesis has yielded a significant breakthrough for the fabrication of multi-filamentary Nb3Sn conductors in industrial scale. Now Nb3Sn conductors are being widely used for NMR, fusion and other high-field facilities as well as for refrigerator-cooled superconducting magnets. Although Nb3Sn conductors have a long history, their high-field performance has shown a pronounced enhancement over the past decade. Further progress may be still expected through the improvement of fabrication parameters.
