Influence of twisting and bending on the Jc and n-value of multifilamentary MgB2 strands

• Multifilamentary AIMI strand augurs well for applications in the high temperature regime.
• The absence of degradations in Jc(B) and n-value with Lp ≥ 10 mm in PIT-54 enable a reduction in loss without damaging the transport properties of MgB2 strand.
• The Jc(B) and n(B) of PIT-36 were found to be independent of bend strain within 0.4%.
• AIMI-18 can be regarded as bend-strain tolerant up to about 0.5% strain.

The influences of strand twisting and bending (applied at room temperature) on the critical current densities, Jc, and n-values of MgB2 multifilamentary strands were evaluated at 4.2 K as function of applied field strength, B. Three types of MgB2 strand were evaluated: (i) advanced internal magnesium infiltration (AIMI)-processed strands with 18 filaments (AIMI-18), (ii) powder-in-tube (PIT) strands processed using a continuous tube forming and filling (CTFF) technique with 36 filaments (PIT-36) and (iii) CTFF processed PIT strands with 54 filaments (PIT-54). Transport measurements of Jc(B) and n-value at 4.2 K in fields of up to 10 T were made on: (i) PIT-54 after it was twisted (at room temperature) to twist pitch values, Lp, of 10–100 mm. Transport measurements of Jc(B) and n-value were performed at 4.2 K; (ii) PIT-36 and AIMI-18 after applying bending strains up to 0.6% at room temperature.PIT-54 twisted to pitches of 100 mm down to 10 mm exhibited no degradation in Jc(B) and only small changes in n-value. Both the Jc(B) and n-value of PIT-36 were seen to be tolerant to bending strain of up to 0.4%. On the other hand, AIMI-18 showed ±10% changes in Jc(B) and significant scatter in n-value over the bending strain range of 0-0.6%.