CONSIDERATIONS FOR PRACTICAL CONDUCTOR DESIGN OF CHEVREL PHASE WIRES

The application of PbMo6S8 wires for the generation of steady state magnetic fields in excess of 20 Tesla needs several conditions to be fulfilled in order to be realistic. In this paper we report about practical design considerations for PbMo6S8 wires. Besides the availability of wires with sufficient lengths and uniform high critical current density J(c), thermal and mechanical stability has to be achieved. The most severe criterion for thermal stability is based on the prevention of flux jumps in the presence of screening currents in the adiabatic limit. This results in filament diameters between 710 mu-m and 90 mu-m for a critical current density of 5x10(8) A/m2 and 2x10(9) A/m2, respectively. A dynamic stabilization of a PMS wire in an epoxy impregnated coil is not very efficient. Finally the behavior of J(c) of PbMo6S8 wires under tensile and compressive stress will be discussed.