  In this paper we report a new synthesis route to produce boron powders
characterized as being amorphous and having very fine particle size. This route
has been developed to improve the performances of superconducting MgB2 powders,
which can be directly synthesized from this nano-structured boron precursor by
following the ex-situ or the in-situ P.I.T. method during the manufacturing of
tapes, wires and cables. All the procedure steps are explained and the
chemical-physical characterization of the boron powder, using x-ray diffraction
(Xrd), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy
(TEM) techniques, is reported. Furthermore, a comparison with commercial boron
is given. Preliminary results of the magnetic and electrical characterization,
such as the critical temperature (TC) and the transport critical current
density (JC t), for the MgB2 tape are reported and compared with the tape
prepared with commercial boron.
