The Influence of Compressive and Tensile Axial Strain on the Critical Properties of Nb3Sn Conductors

Various Nb/sub 3/Sn conductors are investigated in an axial strain experiment. The superconducting samples are soldered to a substrate that is bent to generate a compressive or tensile axial strain. Especially in the compressive strain range the critical current reduction is smaller than predicted by the well-known scaling law. The influence of the transverse strain components is investigated in a tape conductor by changing the thermal strain. It is found that the axial strain experiments can be described by an upper-critical field that depends on the deviatoric component of the strain tensor only. Finally a comparison of the critical temperature and the critical current as a function of axial strain is made.