Method of forming a superconducting multistrand conductor

Claim 1

1,000 method of claim 1 wherein superconducting wires are of about 1-mil diameter and the resultant formed wire has a supercurrent-carrying capacity of at least 1,000 amperes.

Claim 3

A method of forming a large diameter unitary superconducting multistrand conductor capable of carrying large supercurrents which are substantially greater than can be carried by a single superconducting wire of equivalent diameter while remaining substantially free from superconducting/normal transitions, said multistrand conductor consisting of a plurality of close-packed Nb-Zr or Nb-Ti superconducting wires spaced from each other and solidly embedded in a thermally and electrically conductive continuous matrix of copper of silver, which comprises providing a plurality of fine copper-coated or silver-coated superconducting wires of ductile niobium-zirconium or niobium-titanium alloy having substantially similar ductility characteristics as the metal coating so as to form a substantially monolithic nonseparable unitary body when pressed together, assembling said coated wires in a close-packed wire array in a thin-walled metal tube of the same metal as the coating, and swaging the wire assembly in a single operation to a smaller cross section sufficient to bring said wires and said metal tube into intimate contiguous contact so that the metal coating of said wires and the metal tube form a thermally and electrically conductive continuous matrix in which said superconducting wires are solidly embedded.