Investigation of the properties of PbMo6S8powder processed wires

We report on recent improvements of the fabrication of PbMo
6
S
8
wires by a powder-metallurgical-technique based on a molybdenum matrix. Using industrial methods for hot drawing of molybdenum we successfully produced Mo-PbMo
6
S
8
wires of 0.3 mm diameter and typical lengths of a hundred meters. After proper annealing the critical temperature measured by an inductive method reaches 13.7 K which corresponds of the T
c
of the starting powder. Critical current densities in this type of wire are still insufficient for application but recent investigations in hot pressed bulk PbMo
6
S
8
show that values above 10
⁸
Am
^-2
at 14 T and 4.2 K may be obtained. Preliminary tests on PbMo
6
S
8
wires doped with Ga yield an increase of J
c
up to one order of magnitude in comparison to an undoped wire.