VARIABLE COMPOSITION NBTI SUPERCONDUCTORS PRODUCED BY ARTIFICIAL PINNING CENTER PROCESS

An artifical pinning center (APC) process, that utilizes pure niobium and titanium as the starting material, has been used to manufacture Nb Ti superconductors. The Ti content has been varied from 45.4wt% to 59. 3wt% by adjusting the relative thicknesses of the Nh and Ti sheets in the starting monofilaments, Any composition can be produced in this ma nner, as compared to the conventional alloy which is commercially avai lable in only one composition. The higher Ti content is designed to im prove critical current density (Jc's) in the low field range (<5T) and lower raw material costs, thus reducing the overall cost to the end u ser. The APC process does not suffer from the poorer ductility of the conventional NbTi approach when utilizing higher Ti content alloys. Th e new conductors would be suitable for applications such as magntic re sonance imaging (MRI), superconducting magnetic energy strorage (SMES) and detector magnets.