Superconducting Nb3Sn Strip

Abstract

THE announcement in 1961 by J. E. Kunzler et al.1 of Bell Telephone Laboratories that a niobium–tin inter-metallic compound (Nb3Sn) had been found to be superconductive at high current densities in very high magnetic fields stimulated investigations here into improved methods of producing such material in a form suitable for electrical applications. Since the intermetallic compounds in the niobium–tin system are extremely brittle, conventional methods of fabrication cannot be applied; it is necessary to form the compound Nb3Sn by chemical reaction in situ after fabrication of the two constituent elements.