Abstract
The fabrication process of Nb3Al superconducting wires by the infiltration method was investigated in detail.
For powder size, niobium powder with a sieve range of −200+250 mesh was successfully used to obtain cold isostatic pressed and sintered niobium rods with a desired level of porosity that were later infiltrated with liquid aluminum.
For infiltration, the temperature range of 963∼973 K and the immersion time of 180∼300 s were preferred in order to prevent the formation of brittle intermediate phases which could impair the ductility of the Nb-Al composite.
The sheath material needed to have higher flow stress than that of the composite for successful drawing.
The critical current density of finished wire was measured under the magnetic field up to 15 tesla. The wire with the Nb-rich composition showed excellent Jc-H properties among the ones with a wide range of Nb-Al compositions studied in this investigation.
