Chemical analysis of superconducting cross sections of HTS tapes and wires

For the determination of superconducting properties of HTS wires and tapes an exact analysis of the cross section of the silver sheath and the filaments is essential. The normal procedure for this analysis is to perform image analysis on optical microscopic or SEM images of the conductor cross section. These methods are very time consuming and reflect only a snapshot of the average cross section of the wires / tapes, because the detection is only local. To overcome these difficulties an easy method has been developed to determine cross section in a chemical way via titration. The obtained data reflect an average silver and filament cross section over variable conductor lengths. In addition the porosity of the filaments can easily be calculated.