Fabrication and microstructural control of high current ReBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7/ current leads (Re=Y, Nd, Sm)

Author

Granados, X. ; Martinez, R.Y.B. ; Pinol, S. ; Sandiumenge, F. ; Vilalta, N. ; Carrera, Marco ; Gomis, V. ; Obradors, X.

Author_Institution

Inst. de Ciencia de Mater., CSIC, Barcelona, Spain

Volume

7

Issue

2

fYear

1997

fDate

6/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1743

Lastpage

1746

Abstract

The potential of YBCO superconductors for the development of current leads has been hindered by the difficulties in the fabrication of long single domain bars which exhibit much higher the critical current density than that for the BSCCO counterpart. In this work we report that very long single domain (10 cm/spl times/0.4 cm) self sustained vertical bars can be directionally solidified by using additives such as CeO/sub 2/. The influence of the processing rate has been investigated and we show that current leads which are able to carry a current higher than 2500 A can be fabricated. Quality factors of these bars such as homogeneity, critical current, thermal conductivity and resistance of ohmic contacts are evaluated. At the same time we report the growth conditions of long bars of ReBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7/ (Re=Nd, Sm) in air and we investigate the relationship between microstructure and superconducting properties.

Keywords

barium compounds; critical current density (superconductivity); crystal growth from melt; crystal morphology; directional solidification; high-temperature superconductors; neodymium compounds; samarium compounds; stoichiometry; thermal conductivity; yttrium compounds; 0.4 cm; 10 cm; 2500 A; NdBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7/; SmBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7/; YBCO; YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7/; critical current; critical current density; directionally solidified; fabrication; growth conditions; high current NdBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7/ current leads; homogeneity; microstructural control; microstructure; ohmic contacts; quality factors; self sustained vertical bars; superconducting properties; thermal conductivity; very long single domain; Additives; Bars; Bismuth compounds; Critical current density; Fabrication; Q factor; Superconductivity; Thermal conductivity; Thermal resistance; Yttrium barium copper oxide;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1051-8223

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/77.620917

Filename

620917