Industry is already heavily involved in the heart of the magnets, their superconducting cable. American vendors, experts at the University of Wisconsin, at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and at the other participating laboratories have made possible a steady improvement in the performance of industrially produced niobium-titanium composite wires. Advances include a more homogeneous basic alloy, more effective mechanical working and heat treatment cycles, and improvements in the tools and methods used to form the wires into cables. Cables that fully meet SSC requirements are now being produced; full-scale, industrial mass-production will soon be possible. Critical current of strand at 5 teslas and 4.2 K (amperes per square millimeter) 3000 A cross section of the collared coil assembly of a quadrupole or focusing magnet. Note the four coil segments, which power alternate north and south poles. The SSC quadrupoles are now at an early modeling and concept design stage; 1400 will eventually be industrially produced. Improvement in current-carrying capacity of commercially produced wire as a result of research and development for the SSC. Wire for the Tevatron and the CBA project carried 1800 to 2000 amperes per square millimeter under test conditions. After several manufacturing cycles, industrial suppliers have produced wire surpassing 2750 amperes per square millimeter. Superconducting wire is of worldwide interest, as similar improvements abroad show. (Courtesy of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory) ver the past four years, an extraordinary scientific instrument, the Super- Overdue from concept The talents and dedication of scientists, engineers, and technicians in national The future will see the transfer of SSC dipole magnet technology to in- The worldwide physics community will participate in the creation of the The lure of the unknown and the scientific puzzles that define the frontier The Superconducting Super Collider R&D program is supported by the U.S. Department of |