This article reviews the phase diagrams, alloy with third element additions, layer growth, critical current density, and matrix materials of A15 superconductors. It describes the production methods of tape conductors (chloride deposition, and surface diffusion) and multifilamentary wires (rod process, modified jelly roll process, niobium tube process, in-situ process, powder metallurgy process, and jelly roll method). The article focuses on reaction heat treatment, which is required at the end of wire processing to convert the ductile components to the desired, but brittle, superconductor. Finally, it discusses the applications of A15 superconductors in commercial magnets, power generation, power transmission, high-energy physics, and fusion.

The discovery of the high-critical-temperature oxide superconductors has accelerated the interest for superconducting applications due to its higher-temperature operation at liquid nitrogen or above and thus reduces the refrigeration and liquid helium requirement. It also permits usage of the high-critical-temperature oxides in magnets or power applications in high-current-carrying wire or tape with acceptable mechanical capability. This article discusses the powder techniques mainly based on the production of an oxide powder precursor, which is then subjected to various processing, including powder-in-tube processing, vapor deposition processing, and melt processing. It further discusses the microstructural, anisotropy and weak link influences on these processes.

Superconductivity has been found in a wide range of materials, including pure metals, alloys, compounds, oxides, and organic materials. Providing information on the basic principles, this article discusses the theoretical background, types of superconductors, and critical parameters of superconductivity. It discusses the magnetic properties of selected superconductors and types of stabilization, including cryogenic stability, adiabatic stability, and dynamic stability. The article also focuses on alternating current losses in superconductors, including hysteresis loss, penetration loss, eddy current loss, and radio frequency loss. Furthermore, the article describes the flux pinning phenomenon and Josephson effects.

Ternary molybdenum chalcogenides stands for a vast class of materials, whose general formula is MxMO6X8, where, M is a cation and X is a chalcogen (sulfur, selenium, or tellurium). Possible applications of some of these are as high field superconductors (that is, >20 T, or 200 kG). This article discusses the fabrication methods of PbMo6S8 (PMS) and SnMo6S8 (SMS), including hot processing and cold processing. It provides a short note on the superconducting properties of PMS wire filaments and their applications in processes requiring high magnetic fields, such as high-energy physics, thermonuclear fusion, and nuclear magnetic resonance.

This article focuses on different thin-film deposition techniques used to make superconducting films and discusses the properties and advantages of high-critical-temperature and low-critical-temperature materials in a number of applications, including signal processing and analog electronic devices. The article gives a brief introduction on superconducting materials, substrates and buffer layers and discusses the major deposition techniques such as, electron-beam co-evaporation, sputtering from either a composite target or multiple sources and laser ablation. The article also describes the in-situ film growth techniques for producing atomic oxygen by radio frequency excitation or microwave discharge or with ozone.

Superconductors are materials that exhibit a complete disappearance of electrical resistivity on lowering the temperature below the critical temperature. A superconducting material must exhibit perfect diamagnetism, that is, the complete exclusion of an applied magnetic field from the bulk of the superconductor. Superconducting materials that have received the most attention are niobium-titanium superconductors (the most widely used superconductor), A15 compounds (in which class the important ordered intermetallic Nb3Sn lies), ternary molybdenum chalcogenides (Chevrel phases), and high-temperature ceramic superconductors. This article provides an overview of basic principles of superconductors and the different classes of superconducting materials and their general characteristics.

Niobium-titanium alloys (NbTi) became the superconductors of choice in the early 1960s, providing a viable alternative to the A-15 compounds and less ductile alloys of niobium-zirconium. This can be attributed to the relative ease of fabrication, better electrical properties, and greater compatibility with copper stabilizing materials. This article discusses the ramifications of design requirements, selection criteria and processing methods of superconducting fibers and matrix materials. It provides information on the various steps involved in the fabrication of superconducting composites, including assembly, welding, isostatic compaction, extrusion, wire drawing, twisting, and final sizing. The article also provides a detailed account of the properties and applications of NbTi superconducting composites.

This article reviews the types of passivity and presents tactics that employ passivity to control corrosion. Thermodynamics provides a guide to the conditions under which passivation becomes possible. A valuable guide to thermodynamics is the potential-pH diagram and the Pourbaix diagram. The article presents a potential-pH diagram for the iron-water system and an illustration of an idealized anodic polarization curve for a metal surface, which serves as a basis for describing the kinetics of passivation. It discusses five properties of passive films: thickness, composition, structure, electronic properties, and mechanical properties. The article outlines three possible processes that can form passive films: direct film formation, dissolution precipitation, and anodic oxidation of metal ions in solution. It describes the breakdown of the passive film using various models and highlighting the effect of alloy composition and structure.