Effect of sulphur on cube texture formation in microalloyed nickel substrate tapes

Cube textured substrate tapes were prepared by cold forming and annealing from nickel and microalloyed nickel in order to manufacture long flexible superconductors of the YBCO (YBa2Cu3O7−δ) type. It was shown that sulphur as a metallurgical trace impurity can hinder the processes of cube texture formation in nickel based materials. Experiments were performed to overcome this detrimental effect of sulphur by microalloying of different nickel qualities with Mo, W or Ag and by specific heat treatments.