Development of Nb/sub 3/Al superconducting wire for accelerator magnets

Nb/sub 3/Al superconductors have shown promising performance compared to Nb/sub 3/Sn conductors when processed by rapid heating/quenching process. Therefore we have started an R&D program of Nb/sub 3/Al conductors for future accelerator magnets. Several test wires of around 0.8 mm diameter, which have relatively small filament (/spl sim/50 micron diameter) and low matrix ratio (/spl sim/1.0), were fabricated, and the heat treatment and area reduction conditions after the rapid quenching process were studied. The highest noncopper J/sub c/ achieved during this study was 1734 A/mm/sup 2/ at 10 T and 4.2 K.