A comparative study of compositions and microstructures of two types internal-tin process Nb3Sn wires

Abstract

In the present work, microstructural and microchemical of Nb3Sn strands with the internal tin process produced by the Western Superconductor Technology co., Ltd (WST) and Oxford Instruments co., Ltd (OST) were analyzed. The internal 3D-view of two Nb3Sn strands were detected with a (sub-)micrometric resolution in a non-invasive, non-destructive way, i.e. high-resolution 3D X-ray micro tomography. The distribution of filaments and voids induced by the functional heat treatment of two strands were investigated. The elements distribution after heat reaction of two strands was investigated through elemental mapping by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. The filaments of the WST Nb3Sn strand distributed uniformly, whereas the filaments separated with clear copper boundary among filaments. However, the filaments of the OST Nb3Sn strand have serious overlap phenomenon and the copper isolation interface was not clear among filaments. In order to investigate the distinction of microstructure, the selected area electron diffraction was also performed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and the results indicated that obvious impurities were observed in the Nb3Sn phase of the WST strand compared to the OST strand.