Fabrication of $\hbox{Nb}_{3}\hbox{Al}$ Superconducting Wires by the Mechanical Alloying Method

Although the rapid heating quenching and transformation method has been used as a general way to fabricate high-performance Nb
₃
Al superconducting wires, the complicated heat treatment apparatus and techniques obstruct its practical application. In this paper, Nb-Al saturated solid solution (Nb(Al)
_ss
) was fabricated by the mechanical alloying method at room temperature, and the superconducting onset transition temperature (T
_c-onset
) of the Nb
₃
Al bulk transforming from the Nb(Al)
_ss
reached 15.3 K. Based on these results, two groups of Nb
₃
Al superconducting wires were fabricated in combination with the in situ powder-in-tube method to investigate the effects of ball milling time, wire diameter and the cross-sectional shape on the superconducting properties, and the factors that affected the critical current density (J
_c
) were also discussed. The best value of J
_c
in magnetic induction at 6 T was obtained in the round wire with a diameter of Φ1.0 mm fabricated with the powder ball milled for 5 h.