A Novel Process to Produce Amorphous Nanosized Boron Useful for $\hbox {MgB}_{2}$ Synthesis

In this paper, we report a new synthesis route to produce boron powders characterized as being amorphous and having very fine particle size. This route has been developed to improve the performances of superconducting MgB₂ powders, which can be directly synthesized from this nanostructured boron precursor by following the ex-situ or the in-situ PIT method during manufacturing of tapes, wires, and cables. All the procedure steps are explained, and the chemical-physical characterization of the boron powder, using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy techniques, is reported. Furthermore, a comparison with commercial boron is given. Preliminary results of the magnetic and electrical characterization, such as critical temperature T_C and transport critical current density J_{C t}, for the MgB₂ tape are reported and compared with those for the tape prepared with commercial boron.