Wikipedia
Niobium-titanium (NbTi) is an alloy of niobium and titanium, used industrially as a type II superconductor wire for superconducting magnets, normally as Nb-Ti fibres in an aluminium or copper matrix.
Cross section of preform superconductor cable.jpg | Cross section of preform superconductor cable 2.jpg | Cross section of preform superconductor cable 3.jpg |
Its critical temperature is 9.2 kelvin
In 1962, at Atomics International, T.G. Berlincourt and R.R.Hake. discovered the superior high-critical-magnetic-field, high-critical-supercurrent-density properties of Nb-Ti that, together with affordability and easy workability, distinguish Nb-Ti alloys from thousands of other superconductors and justify their status as the most widely utilized (workhorse) superconductors.
With a maximum critical magnetic field of about 15 tesla, Nb-Ti alloys are suitable for fabricating supermagnets generating magnetic fields up to about 10 tesla. For higher magnetic fields, higher-performance, but more-expensive and less-easily fabricated superconductors, such as niobium-tin, are commonly employed.
The part of global economic activity, for which superconductivity is indispensable, amounted to about five billion euros in 2014. MRI systems, most of which employ niobium-titanium, accounted for about 80% of that total.