Mechanical characterization of Ti-added MgB2/Cu superconducting wires using Vickers hardness test

The Ti-added (0%, 5%, and 10%) MgB2/Cu superconducting wires were prepared by the powder-in-tube (PIT) method. Mechanical properties of the samples were then characterized by using a dynamic ultra-microindentation experimental technique. We observed that the sink-in effect is significant in our samples. So, the loading–unloading (P–h) curves were analyzed by the displacement approach to indentation. It was found that hardness (H) and the effective elastic modulus (E) values increased with added Ti. In addition, these values showed peak load dependence (i.e. indentation size effect (ISE)).