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Development of a High Current Density Nb3Sn Conductor With Ga and Mg Dopants for High Field Application--Supercon, Inc., 830 Boston Turnpike, Shrewsbury, MA 01545-3301; 508-842-0174
Mr. Mark Rudziak, Principal Investigator
Mrs. Elaine Tarkiainen, Business Official
DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-99ER82897
Amount: $100,000
There is a clear demand from the high-energy physics community for conductors suitable for the fabrication of magnets operating at fields of 12T and above. Such magnets are needed for the next generation of particle accelerators, such as the Very Large Hadron Collider. Currently, Nb3Sn-based conductors are the only commercially available conductors capable of satisfying these high performance needs. This project will advance the performance limits of Nb3Sn conductors through the simultaneous addition of gallium and magnesium dopants. The gallium addition will enhance upper critical field and critical temperature, while the magnesium addition will provide gain refinement, enhancing critical current density. In Phase I, two gallium-and magnesium-doped monofilaments and an un-doped control monofilament will be assembled and processed to multifilamentary wire through a series of restacking steps. The gallium addition will be achieved by a novel process, whereby copper-gallium bronze rods are incorporated into a niobium filament core. The magnesium addition will be achieved by conventional alloying with a Nb-Sn bronze. The critical properties of the doped wires will be compared with the un-doped wire.
Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The enhanced Nb3Sn-based conductors should be capable of satisfying the high performance needs for future particle acclelerators.