Magnetization and Inter-Filament Contact in HEP and ITER Bronze-Route ${\hbox {Nb}}_{3}{\hbox {Sn}}$ Wires

Magnetization measurements are relevant tests for the characterization of superconductors. Practically they are the only measurements that allow estimating the critical current density at low fields of low temperature superconductors, the effective filament size and the hysteresis losses. For this purpose CERN, in collaboration with the University of Geneva, has carried out magnetization measurements on five types of Nb₃Sn wires: three bronze route strands used in the ITER project; one Powder In Tube (PIT) and one Internal Tin (IT) wires used for developing next generation accelerator magnets. The field dependent magnetization has been determined using three setups: a Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM), a Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) and a special system used for the production control of LHC strands. Samples of different lengths have been tested to check the different coupling between the filaments. Unexpectedly, it was found that the magnetization of the tested bronze wires was strongly dependent on the sample length. In this paper, the results, which were obtained for different type of strands and sample lengths, are reported and compared.