Test Apparatus and Tensile Properties of Niobium-Zirconium Superconductor Alloy Wire in the Temperature Range 300° to 4.2°K

Abstract

With the advent of commercially available superfield magnet systems utilizing the principles of superconductivity, a number of technical articles have been published concerning the various superconductor materials used as coil windings and the physical parameters, such as critical magnetic field and critical current density, which govern their performance in solenoids. Although some mention has been made of the mechanical properties of Nb-Zr wire and their importance with respect to the hoop stresses or “bursting forces” experienced by superconducting solenoids, apparently little effort has been devoted to obtaining extensive mechanical and physical property data on these wires at room and cryogenic temperatures.