Progress in Commercialization of Cable-in-Tube Approach to Manufacturing of Internal-Tin ${\rm Nb}_{3}{\rm Sn}$ Wires

Abstract

With funding provided by US Department of Energy SSI has been able to reach significant milestones in manufacturing of Nb <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> Sn wires by the innovative cable-in-tube method. Development of wires for consideration for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project has reached the stage where single billets produce single piece-lengths of wire without any breaks. Wires in the range of 1-1.5 km have been produced. An early stage sample wire produced by the CIT approach has shown a non-copper J <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</sub> of 940 A /mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> at 12 T and 4.2 K combined with plusmn3 T hysteresis loss of 560 mJ/cc. Another wire designed and produced for High Energy Physics applications has shown a non-copper J <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</sub> of more than 2200 A/mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> . These results and the research to achieve them are described in this article.