Radiation effects on superconductivity in A15 materials

At present the A15 superconductor Nb3Sn is one of the most attractive materials for the design of magnet systems for fusion reactors. There the materials are exposed to a high flux of neutrons up to 10¹⁸-10¹⁹n/cm²during a continuous fusion reactor operation within ten years. As a result the critical parameters of the superconducting materials are changed rather drastically, which must be taken into account when designing reliable magnet systems. The neutron radiation damage in A15 materials thereby is characterized by small highly disordered regions within a less disordered matrix. The highly disordered regions are responsible for the increase of the critical current density after low-dose neutron irradiation of non-optimized materials and have an influence on the superconducting transition width. In contrast, the change of the superconducting parameters after high-dose irradiation may be understood essentially by considering the properties of the matrix alone.