Method of producing a composite oxide superconductive wire

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In order to achieve the first object mentioned above, the present invention provides a method of producing a superconducting wire, comprising the steps of continuously forming a strip of material into a U-shaped strip; filling this with raw material powders; closing up the U-shaped strip, forming a tube; butt welding the resulting seam; and sintering the resulting tube with the raw material powders housed therein.
According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the raw material powders preferably include mixture of oxides, nitrites, fluorides, carbonates, nitrates, oxalates or sulfates of one element .
alpha.
selected from group IIa in the periodic table, one element .
beta.
selected from group IIIa in the periodic table and one element .
gamma.
selected from groups Ib, IIb, IIIb, IVa and VIIIa in the periodic table, or powders of composite oxides obtained by sintering these materials and pulverizing them.
In addition, in order to achieve another object of the present invention, a strip of metal is continuously formed into a flume-like shape and the resulting concave member is filled with the oxide superconducting material.
Subsequently, the conductor is closed further, but leaving a gap between the opposed edges thereof, to envelop said material, followed by sintering and then forming the wire to the desired final shape and size.