Development of Bi(2223) multifilamentary tapes with low ac losses

A significant reduction of ac losses in twisted Bi(2223) multifilamentary tapes with Ag sheaths has been achieved by using oxide (BaZrO3 and SrZrO3) barriers between filaments. These barriers have two important effects: they increase the transverse resistivity, which suppresses induced coupling currents, and they reduce filament bridging, which in pure Ag sheath tapes largely cancels the beneficial effect of filament twisting. The decoupling can be gauged by the frequency at which loss shows a maximum in a low-amplitude ac field applied perpendicular to the tape. So far, the frequency of the loss maximum, f(m), in Ag-sheathed tapes has been enhanced from 5 Hz (untwisted) to 82 Kz (11 mm in twist pitch length). Different ways to introduce oxide barriers in tapes with 19-95 filaments are presented. The critical current density in the filaments varied between 10,000 and 20,000 A/cm(2). Ac loss measurements as well as the electrical and mechanical characterization are discussed in detail. The variation of the critical current density with bending strain is shown to be similar to that of tapes without barriers.