Ni–W alloys are used as the substrate in the manufacture of HTS tape via the
RABiTSTM
process. Theoretical work has shown that the ferromagnetism in a substrate can affect the
ac losses in the superconductor. This occurs in part because of the increased magnetic
permeability, which alters the magnetic induction in the superconductor and thereby
the loss. Magnetic hysteretic loss in the substrate is an additional contribution
to overall ac loss. We report measurements of both permeability and magnetic
loss as a function of frequency and magnetic induction for the standard alloy
Ni–5W as well as composite substrates incorporating non-magnetic Ni–W alloys.
The measurements are done using ac susceptibility at 77 K, at frequencies up to
104 Hz and inductions in the range 1–150 mT. It is shown how to use these results to predict
total ac loss in isolated superconducting tape and wound coils. Some important magnetic
parameters cannot be obtained with sufficient accuracy using a SQUID or vibrating sample
magnetometer, since the size of a sample is limited in these measurements. This makes the
demagnetizing factor large enough to degrade the accuracy of a permeability
measurement.