YBa2Cu3Oy
(Y123) bulk materials were textured with artificially patterned holes, creating a ‘perforated
structure’. The goal is to facilitate sample oxygenation and decrease crack formation in order
to address the problem of hot spot formation in fault current limiter (FCL) applications.
As-processed samples contained mechanically patterned holes parallel to the mean
c-axis interconnected to the textured domain. This makes samples easier to oxygenate and
cool. The microstructure is not distorted in the vicinity of the holes. The single domain
character of the sample is evidenced by XRD pole figure investigations. Meander tracks
were prepared by drilling the upper and lower surfaces of the samples. Samples containing
holes still trap high fields, comparable with samples without holes. Values of
Jc
are increased in samples with holes.
An infiltration and top seed growth method (ITSG), has been successfully used to grow a single grain
of YBa2Cu3O7−x
(Y123) bulk material. The nucleation of Y123 grain is controlled by seeding the
Y2BaCuO5
(Y211) preform with a Sm123 or MgO seed crystal. Various configurations influencing the
liquid infiltration such as that due to capillarity or gravitational force have been studied.
The resulting mono-domain Y123 samples are found to be free of macrocracks, a negligible
shrinkage and a microstructure with uniformly distributed fine Y211 particles.
The superconducting properties of the final Y123/Y211 samples are discussed.
Large, single grains of Y-Ba-Cu-O (YBCO) bulk superconductor composed of a YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−δ (Y-123) matrix with Y 2 BaCuO 5 (Y-211) inclusions have been fabricated using a seeded infiltration and growth (IG) process. Y-211 precursor pellets prepared from powders containing different Y-211 particle sizes were processed by the seeded IG technique to investigate the effect of Y-211 size on the single grain microstructure. The superconducting properties of the single grains fabricated in this study are observed to correlate well with the variation in Y-211 particle size in the fully textured Y-123 phase matrix. The critical current density, J c , in particular, has been observed to increase from 68 000 A cm −2 for a reference sample to 94 000 A cm −2 at 77 K in self-field for a sample prepared using refined Y-211 precursor powder with added platinum oxide.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.