Practical Use
Mechanically, Nb3Sn is extremely brittle and thus can not be easily drawn into a wire, which is necessary for winding superconducting magnets. To overcome this, wire manufacturers typically draw down composite wires containing ductile precursors. The "internal tin" process include separate alloys of Nb, Cu and Sn. The "bronze" process contains Nb in a copper-tin bronze matrix. With both processes the strand is typically drawn to final size and coiled into a solenoid or cable before heat treatment. It is only during the heat treatment that the Sn reacts with the Nb to form the brittle, superconducting niobium-tin compound.
The powder-in-tube process is also used.
The high field section of modern NMR magnets are composed of niobium-tin wire.
Some niobium-tin wires can be wound after heat treatment.
Read more about this topic: Niobium-tin
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“Not many appreciate the ultimate power and potential usefulness of basic knowledge accumulated by obscure, unseen investigators who, in a lifetime of intensive study, may never see any practical use for their findings but who go on seeking answers to the unknown without thought of financial or practical gain.”
—Eugenie Clark (b. 1922)