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The effect of Ag2O addition on the Bi-(Pb)-Sr-Ca-Cu-O system has been investigated in terms of ac susceptibility, phase evolution, critical current density and critical temperature. It was found that as the amount of Ag2O addition increases, the intergranular critical current density decreases in our samples (Bi1.84Pb0.34Sr1.91Ca2.03Cu3.06O10) fabricated by ammonium nitrate technique. The analysis for comparison is based on the suppression degree of the diamagnetic behaviour with respect to fields, rapid or slow shift of the summit in χ'(T) to lower temperature with increasing field amplitude and the sharpness of the transition of χ'(T) for intergranular component for the same field amplitude. We also qualitatively discuss experimental results in the framework of the critical state model. The room temperature XRD diagram indicates the presence of large amount of high-Tc (2223) phase. The percentage of Bi-2223 phase in the phase mixture was estimated from the intensities of high-Tc (2223) and low-Tc (2212) phase peaks as 78% for the pure BSCCO sample. Among the Ag2O-added BSCCO samples studied, the one in which 5 wt%Ag2O was added shows the highest rate of Bi-2223 formation as 92%. The SEM analysis reveals some morphological changes induced by silver addition.

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This study deals with the effect of Pr 2 O 3 addition on the structural, superconducting and mechanical properties of Bi-2212 superconductor by means of X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron dispersive X-ray (EDX), Vickers microhardness and resistivity measurements. The samples studied are prepared using the standard solid-state reaction method. Onset transition temperatures (T c onset ) of the samples are estimated from the dc resistivity measurements. Furthermore, the phase ratio and lattice parameters a and c are determined from XRD patterns when the microstructure, surface morphology and element composition analyses of the samples are investigated by SEM and EDX measurements, respectively. Additionally, vickers microhardness, elastic modulus, yield strength and fracture toughness values of the samples are deduced from microhardness measurements. It is found that T c onset values of the samples increase from 87 to 97 K with the Pr 2 O 3 addition. According to the refinement of cell parameters done by considering the structural modulation, the doping is confirmed by both an increase of the lattice parameter a and a decrease of the cell parameter c of the samples in comparison with that of the pure sample. As for SEM measurements, it is obtained that the surface morphology and grain connectivity degrade with the increase of the Pr 2 O 3 addition. Moreover, EDX images show that the elements used for the preparation of samples distribute homogeneously and the Pr atoms enter into the crystal structure by replacing Sr atoms. To sum up, the Pr 2 O 3 addition is found to suppress the mechanical, microstructural and superconducting properties of the Bi-2212 superconductor.