Effects of the manufacturing process of MgB2 cables on the superconductor precursor material

R. F. LUCCAS; ET AL.

Natal

Workshop; 16th International Workshop on Vortex Matter in Superconductors VORTEX2017; 2017

IIP-UFRN

Pinning of vortices is a field of great interest for applications of superconductivity. The ability of avoiding vortex movement is directly related to avoiding dissipation of energy in the material. Natural and artificial defects are able to work as pinning centers for vortices in superconductors. In that way, the study of different kind of defects like impurity inclusions, segregated phases or grain boundaries is important from an application point of view.In this work we present a study of the grain size of MgB2 as the precursor material for superconductor cables[1]. We compared particles of the precursor before and after the drawing and analyzed how microstructure changes in function of it. The role of the grain size and their possible consequences is also discussed. Cases for several configurations are compared.[1] C.E. Sobrero, et al., "Multifilamentary MgB2 wires prepared by an in situ powder-in-tube method", Journal of Low Temperature Physics 179, 119 (2015).