Low cost drilled billet production method for Cu-Nb composite wire

The primary requirements of conductor wires used for pulsed magnets are high strength and high electrical conductivity. There are several methods available to produce these wires, albeit expensive. This paper presents a preliminary result of a manufacturing method, which incorporates the conventional drilled-billet technique. The project can be classified into two stages. In the first stage, a processing method was developed to optimize the strength of the primary Cu-Nb/Ti rods, which were used as inserts in drilled Cu billets. An assembly of the Cu billets and the primary Cu-Nb/Ti rods was made, and this was subsequently deformed by swaging, avoiding an extrusion process. The microstructure, mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of the wires were evaluated at various stages of the processing. Details of the processing and characterization techniques used are provided in this paper. Although, the processing resulted in a wire with a reasonable conductivity of 78.8 IACS% at room temperature, its tensile strength was low. The low tensile strength value was attributed to a lack of adequate bonding in the material. Improvement in the manufacturing process is currently being implemented, with the view to address the bonding issue.