Identification of the effect of grain size on levitation force of well-textured YBCO bulk superconductors Original Research Article

The levitation forces of samples with different grain size have been directly investigated and identified in well-textured YBCO bulks. A single-domain YBCO bulk of ∅30 mm was prepared by a top seeded melt growth process, then divided into two, three and four parts to acquire the levitation forces of samples with different grain size but with completely the same grain orientation. The maximum levitation force for the single-domain sample is about 1.68, 2.05 and 2.4 times higher than that of the samples with two, three, and four grain domains. It is directly confirmed that the levitation force of a single-domain YBCO bulk is much superior than that of samples with multiple domains. It is found that the levitation force is inversely proportional to the total length of grain boundaries of the corresponding sample.