Performance of Multifilamentary Superconducting Wire in Solenoids and Prototype Synchrotron Magnets

This paper contains experimental results on the stability of pulsable solenoids and dipoles made from modern multifilamentary superconducting wires braided into a fully transposed ribbon conductor. Magnets made from composite wires containing very high ratios (1:1) of superconductor to matrix metal are very sensitive to conductor motion and exhibited considerable degradation and training. This behavior was less apparent in wires containing less superconductor even for an equivalent over-all current density. The use of "metallic" insulation to bond the individual wires into a solid ribbon greatly improves the performance of the 1:1 superconductors but introduces sufficient coupling between the wires in the braid to limit its use to dc or low repetition rate applications, at least with the bonding materials tested to date.