Exploring the feasibility of Fe(Se,Te) conductors by ex-situ Powder-in-Tube method

TL;DR

This study assesses the feasibility of fabricating Fe(Se,Te) superconducting wires using the Powder-In-Tube method, highlighting material and process challenges, and reporting a maximum critical current density comparable to existing conductors.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of sheath materials and thermal treatments for Fe(Se,Te) wires, revealing the challenges and limitations of the ex-situ PIT fabrication approach.

Findings

Fe sheath does not affect the Fe(Se,Te) phase significantly.

Maximum Jc achieved is 400 A/cm2, comparable to other 11 family conductors.

Fabrication of Fe(Se,Te) wires by PIT is challenging and requires alternative methods.

Abstract

In this work, the feasibility condition of Powder-In-Tube (PIT) processed wires of Fe(Se,Te) superconductor has been investigated. We faced several technical issues that are extensively described and discussed. In particular, we tested different metals and alloys as external sheaths (Cu, Ag, Nb, Ta, Ni, Fe, cupronickel, brass) concluding that the only sheath that does not affect substantially the Fe(Se,Te) phase is Fe. On the other hand, Fe sheath introduces excess iron in the Fe(Se,Te) phase, which affects the superconducting properties; we investigated the effects of the thermal treatments and of the powder composition in order to avoid it. The maximum Jc value obtained in our samples is 4*10^2 A/cm2, comparable to other published values of PIT conductors of the 11 family. We conclude that the fabrication of Fe(Se,Te) wires by PIT method is quite challenging and other approaches should be developed.