The crystallization effects of boron (B) powder on the phase, full width at half maximum (FWHM) values, and critical properties were investigated for in-situ reacted MgB2 bulk superconductors. The semi-crystalline B powder was heat-treated at different temperatures of 1000, 1300 and 1500˚C for 5 hours in an Ar atmosphere. Then, using as-received and heat-treated B powders, the MgB2 samples were prepared at 600˚C for 40 hours in an Ar atmosphere. As the heat-treatment temperature of the B powder increased, both the particle size of the B powder and crystalline phase increased. In the case of MgB2 samples using B powders heat-treated at above 1300˚C, unreacted magnesium (Mg) and B remained due to the improved crystallinity of the B powder. As the heat-treatment temperature of B powder increased, the critical current density of MgB2 decreased continuously due to the reduction of grain boundary density and superconducting volume caused by unreacted Mg and B.

Five kinds of double stacked 385 (55 x7) filamentary Bi2212/Ag round wires and 55 filamentary tapes with different Ag ratios (silver area/superconductor area) have been fabricated via PIT method, and the effects of Ag ratio and processing factors on critical current density were studied. The effects of the maximum temperature and average filament diameter on critical current density were also studied. The wire of 0.74 mm diameter having Ag ratio 3.7 showed critical current density of at 4.2 K, 0 T.