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A major problem of state-of-the-art Nb$_3$Sn accelerator magnets is their long training due to thermo-mechanical perturbations. Increasing the specific heat, $C_p$, of the Rutherford cable would reduce and/or eliminate training by limiting the coils temperature rise. This paper studies feasibility of increasing the $C_p$ of Rutherford-type cables by using thin composite Cu/$Gd_2$O$_3$ and Cu/$Gd_2$O$_2$S tapes produced by Hyper Tech Research, Inc. The tape can be either wrapped around the cable, placed on the cable wide faces under the insulation, and/or inserted as a core. Wire samples outfitted with these high-$C_p$ ribbons, or tapes, were prepared and tested at FNAL for their Minimum Quench Energy (MQE). At 90%I$_c$ and 15 T, the average gain of MQE of the Nb$_3$Sn wire soldered to the Cu/$Gd_2$O$_2$S 55 micrometer thick ribbon was 2.5, and further increased at larger transport currents.

In this letter we demonstrate achievement of record non-Cu critical current density (Jc,non-Cu) in ternary, multifilamentary Nb3Sn conductors by the introduction of artificial pinning centers (APC). In the past two years, we have made great progress in the development of APC Nb3Sn wires. Recent resistivity vs magnetic field measurements confirmed the high upper critical field (Bc2) of ternary APC wires, which at 4.2 K was ~28 T, about 1-2 T higher than present state-of-the-art conductors. In addition to high Bc2, it was found that APC wires have noticeably higher Sn content in the Nb3Sn layers as compared to standard wires. The Jc,non-Cu values of the most-recent APC wires have met the Jc,non-Cu-B specification required by the Future Circular Collider (FCC), with the best heat treatment leading to a Jc,nonCu 29% higher than the FCC specification at 21 T. Microscopy analysis shows that the APC wires still have overly high residual Nb fractions due to too low of a Sn/Nb ratio, indicating that there is still great potential for further Jc,non-Cu improvement. The development of APC wires is ongoing; this letter details some of the steps forward in the optimization and lays out a roadmap to push the APC wires towards practical, magnet-grade conductors., Comment: 4 figures

A series of MgB2 superconducting composite strands co-doped with Dy2O3 and C were prepared via an advanced internal Mg infiltration (AIMI) route.The transport properties and MgB2 layer growth were studied in terms of the Dy2O3 doping level, reaction temperature, and reaction time. Transport studies showed that both critical current densities, Jcs, and irreversibility fields, Birrs, were increased with Dy2O3 doping. The highest layer Jc was 1.35 x 10^5 A/cm2 at 4.2 K, 10 T, 30% higher than that of the best AIMI wires without Dy2O3 doping. The highest "non-barrier" Jc reached 3.6 x 10^4 A/cm2 at 4.2 K, 10 T, which was among the best results reported so far. The improvements were even more pronounced at higher temperatures where the field at which the layer Jc reached 10^4 A/cm2 was pushed out by 0.9 T at 20 K, 1.2 T at 25 K, and 1.4 T at 30 K. While little or no enhancement in Birr was seen at 10 K and 15 K, the increases in Jc at higher temperatures were consistent with observed increases in Birr of 17% at 20 K, 44% at 25 K, and 400% at 30 K. Also, there were some indications that the reaction and layer growth of MgB2 was enhanced by Dy2O3 doping., Comment: 9 pages, 2 tables, 4 figures, Presented in ASC 2014, Charlotte NC (No. 2MPo2B-07)

Superconducting $MgB_2$ wires in Cu, GlidCop or Monel sheath with Nb or Fe barrier are prepared. Wires vary by sheath material, number of superconducting cores and their chemical composition. Wires are HIP-ed (Hot Isostatic Pressing) at various temperatures ($600-800^oC$) and pressure (up to 1.4 GPa). SEM pictures of cross sections are investigated in order to investigate barrier reactivity and cracking, superconducting material density and grain sizes. Transport measurements are made in magnetic field up to 14 T leading to calculations of critical current density $j_c$ and global pinning force $F_p$. Improvement of transport properties due to higher density of superconducting material is shown., Comment: Proceedings of ICMC 2010 Conference - Wroclaw, Poland, 7 pages

An advanced internal Mg infiltration method (AIMI) in this paper has been shown to be effective in producing superconducting wires containing dense MgB2 layers with high critical current densities. In this study, the in-field critical current densities of a series of AIMI-fabricated MgB2 strands were investigated in terms of C doping levels, heat treatment (HT) time and filament numbers. The highest layer Jc for our monofilamentary AIMI strands is 1.5 x 10^5 A/cm2 at 10 T, 4.2 K, when the C concentration was 3 mol% and the strand was heat-treated at 675 {\deg}C for 4 hours. Transport critical currents were also measured at 4.2 K on short samples and one-meter segments of eighteen-filament C-doped AIMI strands. The layer Jcs reached 4.3 x 10^5 A/cm2 at 5 T and 7.1 x 10^4 A/cm2 at 10 T, twice as high as those of the best PIT strands. The analysis of these results indicates that the AIMI strands, possessing both high layer Jcs and engineering Jes after further optimization, have strong potential for commercial applications., Comment: 15 pages, 2 tables, 8 figures (to be published in Supercond. Sci. Technol.)

Recent advances in MgB2 conductors are leading to a new level of performance. Based on the use of proper powders, proper chemistry, and an architecture which incorporates internal Mg diffusion (IMD), a dense MgB2 structure with not only a high critical current density Jc, but also a high engineering critical current density, Je, can be obtained. In this paper, a series of these advanced (or second - generation, "2G") conductors has been prepared. Scanning electron microscopy and associated energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were applied to characterize the microstructures and compositions of the wires, and a dense MgB2 layer structure was observed. The best layer Jc for our sample is 1.07x105 A/cm2 at 10 T, 4.2 K, and our best Je is seen to be 1.67x104 A/cm2 at 10 T, 4.2 K. Optimization of the transport properties of these advanced wires is discussed in terms of B-powder choice, area fraction, and the MgB2 layer growth mechanism., Comment: 13 pages, 3 tables, 7 figures (or 8 pp in published version)

The transport properties of a number of MgB2 strands have been investigated in terms of their response to strand design, starting B powder choice, and the approach to C doping used. The strands had various designs, specifically; (i) several chemical barriers were introduced, viz: Fe and Nb, (ii) the strands were encased in various outer-sheath materials, viz.: monel, Cu+monel, monel+glidcop, Nb+monel, (iii) the filament counts were varied (1, 18, and 36), and (iv) the final strand diameter was varied. In addition, for a subset of the strand designs several B powder and C-dopant types were investigated. Specifically, two types of amorphous B powder were used: (i) Moissan based "Tangshan boron" (ii) "SMI-boron" which is produced in a plasma torch by the reduction-by-hydrogen of BCl3. Two approaches to C doping were taken: (i) "malic-acid treatment" in which C is introduced into the B powder precursor by the moderate temperature drying out a slurry of B mixed in with a malic-acid-toluene solution (during which the malic acid decomposes leaving C as the only solid residue) before the Mg powder is mixed in; (ii) direct C doping of the SMI-produced B by introducing a known percentage of CH4 into the plasma flame. Critical current densities, Jc, were measured on 1.5 m long samples at 4.2 K in fields of up to 14 T; of all the strands measured, that doped with SMI-C at a nominal 4 mol% C (in relation B) yielded the highest Jc values e.g 1.1x105 A/cm2 at 7 T, 4.5x104 at 10 T, and 2.2x104 A/cm2 at 12 T. The n-values are given for all strands at 5 and 10 T, and for a certain set of strands the magnetic field dependencies of the n-values and the influence of C-doping is presented. Finally we demonstrate that, over a wide range of B, log(Jc) decreases linearly with B with a slope -{\alpha} such that the Jc(B) of any strand can be parameterized in terms of {\alpha} and its zero-field intercept Jc(B=0)., Comment: 35 pages, 6 tables and 5 figures

Conventional doping methods that directly add C or a C-bearing species to Mg+B powder have the disadvantage of adding C inhomogeneously, yielding either under-reacted regions or blocking phases. Pre-doped B powder provides a more homogeneous distribution of the C dopant in MgB2. Powders containing varying amounts of C were used to produce in-situ MgB2 strands which showed high values of transport Jc (104 A/cm2 at 13.3T). Compared to SiC-added and malic acid-treated strands the pre-doped MgB2 showed both higher values of Birr and transport Jc, indicating that the pre-doping of B leads to more efficient C substitution into the B-sublattice., Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures submitted to Applied Physics Letters

The anisotropy of the critical current density (Jc) and its influence on measurement of irreversibility field (Birr) has been investigated for high quality, in-situ MgB2 strands. Comparison of transport and magnetization measurements has revealed the onset of a regime where large differences exist between transport and magnetically measured values of the critical current density and Birr. These effects, initially unexpected due to the lack of crystalline texture in these in-situ processed strands, appear to be due to a fibrous microstructure, connected with the details of the wire fabrication and MgB2 formation reactions. Scanning electron micrographs of in-situ-processed MgB2 monocore strands have revealed a fibrous microstructure. Grains (~100 nm) are randomly oriented, and there is no apparent local texture of the grains. However, this randomly oriented polycrystalline material has a fibrous texture at a larger length scale, with stringers of MgB2 (~ 60 {\mu}m long and ~5 {\mu}m in diameter) partially separated by elongated pores -- the spaces previously occupied by stringers of elemental Mg. This leads to an interpretation of the differences observed in transport and magnetically determined critical currents, in particular a large deviation between the two at higher fields, in terms of different transverse and longitudinal connectivities within the strand. The different values of connectivity also lead to different resistive transition widths, and thus irreversibility field values, as measured by transport and magnetic techniques. Finally, these considerations are seen to influence estimated pinning potentials for the strands., Comment: 43 Pages, 11 Figures, accepted by Supercon. Sci. Tech

The change in the lattice parameters or the lattice disorder is claimed as a cause of the slight reduction in the transition temperature by carbon doping in MgB2. In this work, an extensive investigation on the effects of carbohydrate doping has been carried out. It is found that not only the a-axis but also the c-axis lattice parameter increases with the sintering temperature. A linear relation between the unit cell volume and the critical temperature is observed. Compared with the well known correlation between the lattice strain and the critical temperature, the X-ray peak broadening itself shows a closer correlation with the transition temperature. The residual resistivity and the critical temperature are linearly correlated with each other as well and its implication is further discussed., Comment: 3 pages. Accepted by Jouranl of nanoscience and Nanotechnology (JNN)

We evaluated the doping effects of carbohydrate (malic acid, C4H6O5), from 0wt% to 30wt% of total MgB2, on the phase, lattice parameters, critical temperature, resistivity, and upper critical field of MgB2 superconductor. The lattice parameters calculated show a large decrease in the a-axis for MgB2 + C4H6O5 samples, but no change in the c-axis. This is an indication of the carbon substitution into boron coming from C4H6O5, resulting in enhancement of resistivity, critical current density, and upper critical field. Specifically, the critical current density value of 25000 Acm2 at 5 K and 8 T for the MgB2 + 30wt% C4H6O5 sample is higher than that of the un-doped MgB2 by a factor of 21. In addition, resistivity value for all the MgB2 + C4H6O5 samples ranged from 80 to 90 microohm centimeter at 40 K, which is higher than for un-doped MgB2. The increased resistivity indicates increased impurity scattering due to carbon, resulting in enhanced upper critical field., Comment: 4 page, 5 figures, ASC2006 conference

Three solenoids have been wound and with MgB2 strand and tested for transport properties. One of the coils was wound with Cu-sheathed monofilamentary strand and the other two with a seven filament strand with Nb-reaction barriers, Cu stabilization, and an outer monel sheath. The wires were first S-glass insulated, then wound onto an OFHC Cu former. The coils were then heat treated at 675C/30 min (monofilamentary strand) and 700C/20 min (multifilamentary strand). Smaller (1 m) segments of representative strand were also wound into barrel-form samples and HT along with the coils. After HT the coils were epoxy impregnated. Transport Jc measurements were performed at various taps along the coil lengths. Measurements were made initially in liquid helium, and then as a function of temperature up to 30 K. Homogeneity of response along the coils was investigated and a comparison to the short sample results was made. Each coil contained more than 100 m of 0.84-1.01 mm OD strand. One of the 7 strand coils reached 222 A at 4.2 K, self field, with a Jc of 300 kA/cm2 in the SC and a winding pack Je of 23 kA/cm2. At 20 K these values were 175 kA/cm2 and 13.4 kA/cm2. Magnet bore fields of 1.5 T and 0.87 T were achieved at 4.2 K and 20 K, respectively. The other multifilamentary coil gave similar results., Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables

A racetrack coil using MgB2/Cu strand has been fabricated and tested for transport current density at 4.2 K in self field. The monofilamentary strand was 1.0 mm OD and insulated with S-glass braid. Eighty turns of strand (42 m) were wound onto a stainless steel former with outer dimensions 25 cm x 10 cm x 0.86 cm. The resulting racetrack coil was heat treated at 675C for 30 minutes in flowing Ar. The strand, with a superconducting fraction of 26%, occupied 49% of the total coil pack cross sectional area. The coil Ic at 4.2 K and self field was 120 A (using a 1 microvolt/cm criterion). This led to a Jc,sc (across the whole coil) of 6.12 x 10^4 A/cm2, a Je in the wire of 1.59 x 10^4 A/cm2, and an overall winding Je of 7.9 x 10^3 A/cm2 at 4.2 K in self field. The n-values ranged from 17 to 56., Comment: 20 pages, Five Figs, 2 tables

Resistive transition measurements are reported for Magnesium diboride strands with SiC dopants. The SiC was added as 10 mol of SiC to 90 mol of binary magnesium diboride. Three different SiC powders were used, the average particle sizes were 200 nm, 30 nm, and 15 nm. The strands were heat treated for times ranging from 5 to 30 minutes at temperatures from 675 to 900. Strands with 200 nm size SiC additions had Hirr and Bc2 which maximized at 25.4 T and 29.7 T after heating at 800C for 30 minutes. The highest values were seen for a strand with 15 nm SiC heated at 725C for 30 minutes which had a Hirr of 29 T and a Bc2 higher than 33 T

Critical current density was measured at 4.2 K for MgB2 strands with and without SiC additions. In some cases measurements were performed on longer (1 m) samples wound on barrels, and these were compared to magnetic measurements. Most measurements were performed on short samples at higher fields (up to 18 T). It was found that in-situ processed strands with 10% SiC additions HT at 700-800C show improved Hr and Fp values as compared to control samples, with Hr increasing by 1.5 T. At 900C even larger improvements are seen, with Hr reaching 18 T and Fp values maximizing at 20 GN/m3., Comment: 15 pages, 1 table, six figs

The critical current densities of MgB2 monofilamentary strands with and without SiC additions were measured at 4.2 K. Additionally, magnetic Jc at B = 1 T was measured from 4.2 K to 40 K. Various heat treatment times and temperatures were investigated for both short samples and small helical coils. SiC additions were seen to improve high field transport Jc at 4.2 K, but improvements were not evident at 1 T at any temperature. Transport results were relatively insensitive to heat treatment times and temperatures for both short samples and coils in the 700C to 900C range., Comment: 8 text pages, 1 table, 4 figs

Transport critical current densities and n-values were measured at 4.2 K in fields up to 15 T on 7, 19, and 37-stack multifilamentary MgB2 strands made using an in-situ route. Some strands included SiC additions (particle size 30 nm), while in others Mg-rich compositions were used. Two basic multifilamentary variants were measured, the first had Nb filamentary barriers, the second had Fe filamentary barriers. All samples incorporated stabilizer in the form of Cu 101. Simple, one-step heat treatments were used, with temperatures ranging from 700-800C, and times from 10-30 minutes. Transport critical current densities of 1.75 x 105 A/cm2 were seen at 4.2 K and 5 T in 37 stack strands., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figs, 2 tables

Doping of MgB2 by nano-SiC and its potential for improvement of flux pinning was studied for MgB2-x(SiC)x/2 with x = 0, 0.2 and 0.3 and a 10wt% nano-SiC doped MgB2 samples. Co-substitution of B by Si and C counterbalanced the effects of single-element doping, decreasing Tc by only 1.5K, introducing pinning centres effective at high fields and temperatures and enhancing Jc and Hirr significantly. Compared to the non-doped sample, Jc for the 10wt% doped sample increased by a factor of 32 at 5K and 8T, 42 at 20K and 5T, and 14 at 30K and 2T. At 20K, which is considered to be a benchmark operating temperature for MgB2, the best Jc for the doped sample was 2.4x10^5A/cm2 at 2T, which is comparable to Jc of the best Ag/Bi-2223 tapes. At 20K and 4T, Jc was 36,000A/cm2, which was twice as high as for the best MgB2 thin films and an order of magnitude higher than for the best Fe/MgB2 tapes. Because of such high performance, it is anticipated that the future MgB2 conductors will be made using the formula of MgBxSiyCz instead of the pure MgB2.

In this letter, we report the results of transport Jc of solenoid coils upto 100 turns fabricated with Cu-sheathed MgB2 wires using a wind-reaction in-situ technique. Despite the low density of single core and some reaction between Mg and Cu-sheath, our results demonstrate the decrease in transport Jc with increasing length of MgB2 wires is insignificant. Solenoid coils with diameter as small as 10 mm can be readily fabricated using a wind-reaction in-situ technique. The Jc of coils is essentially the same as in the form of straight wires. A Jc of 133,000 A/cm2 and 125,000 A/cm2 at 4 K and self field has been achieved for a small coil wound using Cu-sheathed tape and Cu-sheathed wire respectively. These results indicate that the MgB2 wires have a great potential for lage scale applications, Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table

Transport current values of 7.5 x 104 A/cm2 at 4.2 K and self-field are reported for MbB2-based tapes. MgB2 strands were formed by directly filling commercially available MgB2 powder into Nb-lined, monel tubes and wire drawing. The wires were then rolled into tapes 2.56 x 0.32 mm2, with a total superconducting cross section of 0.2319 mm2. Transport measurements were performed using a standard four-point technique at T = 4.2 K (in liquid helium) and at self field. Three samples were prepared, with heat treatments of 900C for 1, 2, and 3 h under 1/3 at Ar. Measured values of transport current were 4.7, 7.5, and 1.1 x 104 A/cm2, respectively, at 4.2 K and self field. M-H loops taken on the sample HT for 1 h showed magnetic Jcs of 4.2 x 104 A/cm2 at 4.2 K and 1 T, indicating that the material had reasonably well connected grains., Comment: 7 pages, 1 Fig. 2 tables, minor editiorial revision