A modified in situ powder-in-tube process, which included a short time pre-annealing and intermediate drawing step in the conventional in situ powder-in-tube process, was employed to fabricate thin round MgB2/Fe wires from MgH2 and B powders. The pores and cracks resulted from the MgH2 decomposition during the pre-annealing were effectively eliminated by the intermediate drawing step, which subsequently increased the core density and JC property of final heat treated wires. A higher reduction rate after the pre-annealing led here to a larger enhancement in JC. The reproducibility of the new process on the JC improvement in MgB2 wires was confirmed in 2 series of wires doped with 5 or 10mol% nano-SiC particles separately.

Enhanced JC Property in Nano-SiC Doped Thin MgB2/Fe Wires by a Modified in situ PIT Process. C.H.Jiang, T.Nakane, H.Hatakeyama, H.Kumakura: Physica C, 2005, 422[3-4], 127-31