Progress in electrical and mechanical properties of rectangular MgB2 wires

Critical current densities and mechanical resistance of MgB2 wires made by the rectangular wire-in-tube technique (RWIT) have been studied. Wires prepared from different precursor powders and variable sheath materials are compared. The best electrical performance (10(4) A cm(-2) at 11.3 T) was measured for the wire with mechanically alloyed powder doped by SiC. While the critical current densities, J(c), at 4.2 K are considerably influenced by the powder used, the differences at 20 K are much smaller. Flattened wires show different levels of critical current anisotropy influenced by the precursor powder used. Stress-strain characteristics and critical current degradation are strongly affected by the applied metallic materials and also by the filament's strength. The highest irreversible strain epsilon(irr) = 0.55% was measured for Ti/Cu/Monel sheathed wire with filaments from mechanically alloyed powder.