Synchrotron Radiation Techniques for the Characterization of Superconductors

Abstract

The high flux of high energy X-rays that can be provided through state-of-the-art high energy synchrotron beam lines has enabled a variety of new experiments with the highly absorbing Nb₃Sn superconductors. We report different experiments with Nb₃Sn strands that have been conducted at the ID15 High Energy Scattering beam line of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). Synchrotron X-ray diffraction has been used in order to monitor phase transformations during in-situ reaction heat treatments prior to Nb₃Sn formation, and to monitor Nb₃Sn growth. Fast synchrotron micro-tomography was applied to study void growth during the reaction heat treatment of Internal Tin strands. The elastic strain in the different phases of fully reacted Nb₃Sn composite conductors has been measured by high resolution X-ray diffraction during in-situ tensile tests.