Development of high-strength and high-conductivity conductor materials for pulsed high-field magnets at Dresden

The work at the IFW Dresden is focused on the development of microcomposite Cu-Ag alloys and steel-copper macrocomposites with high-nitrogen steel and pearlitic steel jackets, respectively. In Cu-Ag alloys the investigation of continuously cast rods with different starting diameters suggests that the cooling rate during solidification determining the dendrite arm spacing has a minor influence on the development of the strength compared to the cooling velocity after solidification which determines the extent of the Ag-supersaturation in the Cu solid solution. Maximum strength at minimum drawing strain demands (i) a sufficient volume fraction of eutectic in order to suppress discontinuous precipitation (absence of grain boundaries) and (ii) a sufficiently rapid cooling after solidification in order to prevent pre-precipitation. With a continuously cast starting rod of 12 mm diameter a maximum tensile strength of 1.3 GPa was obtained after a drawing strain of only eta = 4.3. Steel-copper macrocomposites were fabricated by the 'rod-in-tube' technology. The experiments with austenitic high-nitrogen steels were performed with two alloys. With the commercial alloy Nicrofer 3033 a strength level of 1.2 GPa has been achieved with a 52 vol% Cu composite at a drawing strain of eta = 2.3. A composite with pearlitic C60-steel (0.6 wt% C) and 56 vol% Cu showed a tensile strength of 1.53 GPa after a final patenting at a diameter of 14.7 mm and a drawing strain of eta = 4. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.