Composite superconducting MgB2 wires made by continuous process

Previously developed manufacturing technology of a low-cost composite single core MgB2 superconductive wires has been investigated in details using monel sheath and titanium diffusion barrier. In this process Mg and nano-sized B as well as SiC dopant powders were fed continuously to a "U" shaped me-tallic sheath titanium, and subsequently monel sheath. Resulting wires were assembled in "6+1" configuration cable constructed from six 0.75 mm Monel/Titanium/(MgB2+10 wt%SiC) and Monel/Titanium/MgB2 wires and one central copper wire with two twist pitch arrangements: 13 mm and 26 mm. Undoped and SiC doped wires were compared in respect of their Ic(B,T) characteristic. Wires were sintered at 700°C for different times and subsequently have been initially tested in a dedicated helium force vapour cooling system at temperatures 20-35K at 1 T. Systematic and statistic Ic(B,T) measurements of the wires and cables in LHe were conducted at high external magnetic flux density up to 9T. It was shown that wire feeding, sealing, reduction and forming technology enable virtually unlimited conductor lengths as well as in-line processing control simultaneously ensuring a high degree of reproducibility and consistent quality of the MgB2 superconductor. Such generic single core MgB2 conductors enable manufacture of multifilamentary MgB2 conductors with desired configurations (e.g. twist pitch for transient losses and AC applications).