Improved Superconducting properties in the Mg(11)B2 low activation superconductor prepared by low-temperature sintering.

ABSTRACT

Mg(11)B2 has a great application prospect in the superconducting coils for fusion reactor as the "low activation superconductors". The un-doped Mg(11)B2 and Cu-doped Mg(11)B2 bulks using (11)B as a boron precursor were fabricated by low-temperature sintering in present work. It was found that the prepared Mg(11)B2 low activation superconductors exhibit better Jc performance than all of other Mg(11)B2 samples reported in previous studies. As for Cu doped Mg(11)B2, minor Cu addition can obviously improve the Mg(11)B2 grain crystallization and reduce the amount of MgO impurity. Hence, improved grain connectivity and higher Jc at low fields is obtained in Cu doped Mg(11)B2 samples. For un-doped samples, refined grains and more MgO impurity with proper size brought about more flux pinning centers, resulting in better Jc performance at high fields.