Due to a series of excellent characteristics, such as zero resistance effect, Meisner effect and Josephson effect. Superconducting materials have been gradually applied in important fields such as information energy, electric power and transportation, scientific instruments, medical technology, national defense and military, and strongly promotes the development of national economy and human society. Currently, the irradiation effects of superconducting materials in extreme environments such as strong magnetic field, strong radiation and ultra-low temperature are the main focus of researchers at home and abroad. Under the irradiation of high-energy particles, a series of collisions occur between atoms in the lattice of superconducting materials. This will produce a large number of irradiation defects (such as off-peak, depleted-atom region, vacancies, interstitial atoms, dislocations, vacancies), defect clusters and new precipitates. These have significant effects on the superconductivity (including critical temperature TC, critical magnetic field HC, critical current IC and critical current density JC, etc.). In this paper, the research progress of irradiation effects of different superconducting materials at home and abroad is reviewed comprehensively. According to the critical temperature TC, superconducting materials can be classified into low-temperature superconducting materials (TC<25 K, mainly including NbTi, Nb3Sn and Nb3Al) and high-temperature superconducting materials (TC>25 K, mainly including bismuth-based, yttrium-based, MgB2 and iron-based superconducting materials). The effects of irradiation sources (such as neutrons, ions (He, B, C, O, Ne, Si, Ar, Ti, Ni, Xe, Au, Pb, etc.), protons, electrons and rays (γ,χ rays), irradiation conditions (energy, dose, temperature), initial state of superconducting materials, and doping (MgO, B, Sn, Ag, etc.) on their superconductivity are mainly reviewed. Most of studies have shown that, defects can be introduced into superconducting materials after irradiation, and the critical current density JC can be improved with the increase of magnetic flux pinning strength and density. In addition, the critical temperature TC of superconducting materials can be increased by increasing the carriers in superconducting materials or improving the ordering of crystals. Finally, in terms of some key problems need to be solved in the current superconducting material, some technical approaches are proposed in this article, such as optimizing the material system and its preparation process, heat treatment, doping and combination numerical simulation with experimental investigation. This article can provide ideas for the research,development and commercial application of superconducting materials. © 2020, Materials Review Magazine. All right reserved.
