Structural and superconducting properties of PIT processed sintered MgB2/Fe wires

✍ Scribed by S. Balamurugan; T. Nakamura; K. Osamura; I. Muta; T. Hoshino

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 435 KB
• Volume: 412-414
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0921-4534
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physc.2004.05.001

✦ Synopsis

In this paper, we report the structural and superconducting properties of MgB 2 /Fe wires that are produced by different sintering conditions. Good quality MgB 2 /Fe wires are fabricated by the powder-in-tube (PIT) method using commercially available MgB 2 powder at ambient pressure. In order to check the annealing effect, the different pieces of the as-rolled wires are sintered at 1323 K for 0.30-1.20 ks. XRD data confirms that they are hexagonal MgB 2 structure. All the sintered samples show higher T c values in the range of 38.2-38.4 K with high J c than the as-rolled sample. No significant change in T c is seen among the annealed samples. On the other hand, the annealed samples show significant change in the J c values as well as in micro-structural features due to variable sintering time. On annealing at 1323 K for 0.60 ks, we obtain the best quality sample with a J c of 372 A/mm 2 at 33.1 K in self-field with a maximum T c of 38.4 K. Among the annealed samples, 1.20 ks sample shows lower J c . Longer annealing time reduced J c , indicating a possible interfacial reaction between the Fe sheath and the MgB 2 core.