Study on the formation of cubic texture in Ni-7 at.% W alloy substrates by powder metallurgy routes

One of the main challenges for coated conductor applications is to produce sharp cubic textured alloy substrates with high strength and low magnetism. In this work, the cubic textured Ni-7 at.% W substrates were prepared from different powder metallurgy ingots by rolling-assisted biaxially textured substrate processing. The fabrication processes of cubic texture in the Ni-7 at.% W tapes by two powder metallurgy routes are described in detail. Through the optimized process, full width at half maximum values of 6.7 degrees and 5.0 degrees were obtained, as estimated by X-ray (1 1 1) phi scan and (200) rocking curve in the textured Ni 7 at.% W tape, respectively. By electron back-scattering diffraction (EBSD) analysis, the percentage of the cubic textured component in the Ni 7 at.%. W tape surface was found to reach 97.0% within a tolerance angle smaller than 10 degrees. Moreover, the formation mechanism of the cubic texture in the Ni 7 at.% W tape were also investigated by EBSD. Particular attention was focused on the difference in the texture components along the thickness of the partially recrystallized samples. (c) 2008 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.