Current-carrying capacity of composite superconductors

The maximum transport current Imof the composite superconductors is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. It is shown that the high values of the transport current observed in these materials is due to the non-linear part of the current-voltage characteristic in the range of low electric fields ( Vcm^-1). The conductors of rather different structure with Nb-Ti superconducting filaments were tested in a wide range of the external parameters. It is shown that in the external magnetic fields the ratio Im/Ic(where Icis the critical current) is the universal function of the single dimensionless parameter which depends on the sample properties and the external conditions. The theory and experiment are in a good agreement.