Development of high superconductor fraction (Ba, K)Fe2As2 wires with improved uniformity by two-axial rolling

Abstract

Iron-based superconductors are regarded as prospective candidates for high magnetic field applications since they have very high upper critical field and low anisotropy. For practical applications, it is important to develop superconducting wires with strong current carrying capability. In this work, Cu/Ag composite sheathed (Ba, K)Fe₂As₂ (Ba-122) iron-based superconducting wires were fabricated by a two-axial rolling deformation process and a subsequent hot isostatic pressing (HIP) heat treatment. Compared with the previously reported Cu/Ag/Ba-122 wires prepared by groove rolling, the two-axial rolling allowed to use much thinner Cu/Ag composite sheath for wire fabrication, thus greatly increasing the filling factor of superconducting materials by about 5 times to 24 %, and lowering the volume fraction of silver down to 16 % in wires. By a comparative study on the microstructure and superconducting properties between the wires made by two-axial rolling and groove rolling processes, it is found that besides the significantly increased engineering critical current density, the former also exhibits improved homogeneity of mass distribution and uniformity of Ba-122/Ag interfaces, resulting in significantly enhanced n-values over 40 in magnetic fields up to 14 T. Our work suggests that two-axial rolling, combined with HIP processes, presents a promising approach to prepare iron-based superconducting wires with high filling factor, high uniformity and low cost for practical applications.