Effect of fabrication route on density and connectivity of MgB2 filaments

Abstract

Series of samples was manufactured to test the effect of fabrication route on the density of the polycrystalline core, the connectivity between MgB2 grains and also the critical current density of undoped MgB2 conductors. All the samples had titanium sheaths and were manufactured using the Powder-in-Tube method. The Ti tubes were filled with either in situ, ex situ, or 60%–40% mixture of in situ and ex situ powders. After powder packing, the samples went through different deformation steps such as rotary swaging, two-axial rolling, pressing, cold isostatic pressing, or some combination of these, to form monofilamentary tapes. The core density was qualitatively estimated by measuring the Vickers microhardness from several locations of the ceramic filament. The changes in connectivity, or effective cross-section, were evaluated by performing resistivity measurements on the MgB2 cores after removal of the metallic sheath. The Jc characteristics were measured at 4.2 K and at variable external magnetic flux densities.