Progress in electrical and mechanical properties of rectangular MgB2wires

Critical current densities and mechanical resistance of MgB 2 wires made by the rectangular wire-in-tube technique (RWIT) have been studied. Wires prepared from different precursor powders and variable sheath materials are compared. The best electrical performance (10 4 A cm −2 at 11.3 T) was measured for the wire with mechanically alloyed powder doped by SiC. While the critical current densities, J c , at 4.2 K are considerably influenced by the powder used, the differences at 20 K are much smaller. Flattened wires show different levels of critical current anisotropy influenced by the precursor powder used. Stress–strain characteristics and critical current degradation are strongly affected by the applied metallic materials and also by the filament’s strength. The highest irreversible strain ε irr = 0.55% was measured for Ti/Cu/Monel sheathed wire with filaments from mechanically alloyed powder.