Critical Current Density Enhancement and Moisture Destruction Studies of the Compound Superconductor Y-Ba-Cu-Ag-O

Abstract

We have fabricated a series of samples of YBa2(Cu1−x Agx)3Oy compounds where 0 ≤ × ≤ 1, with the intention to study the changes in critical current density and the effect of moisture treatment on normal state resistance R in these high transition-temperature superconductors. The samples exhibited a decrease of the transition-temperature Tc vs the Ag concentration x. Tc is about 93 K for YBa2Cu3Oy and 20 KCfor YBa2Ag3Oy, but it is almost unaffected by the presence or Ag for × < 0.2. An enhancement of the critical current density Jc by nearly an order of magnitude for the samples with 0 < × ≤ 0.1 has been observed. Both Jc and R are found to be sensitive to the ambient moisture conditions.