Study of CeO2+SnO2+Ag doped YBCO as a candidate for welding composition

The doping mixture CeO₂+SnO₂+Ag has been added to YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ(Y123). The basic idea was to combine the greatly enhanced superconducting properties of CeO₂+SnO₂ doped Y123 and the silver faculty to decrease the melting peritectic decomposition temperature of Y123, in order to use this material as a welding material for CeO₂+SnO₂ doped Y123 textured blocks. Consequently, different physico-chemical properties of this composition have been studied. It is shown that silver decreases the decomposition temperature of CeO₂+SnO₂ doped Y123 from at least 30°C and that, for an addition of 5 wt%Ag, the critical current densities under all magnetic fields are totally similar to the CeO₂+SnO₂ doped Y123 ones. Hence, this composition appears really promising as a candidate for realizing high quality welds of CeO₂+SnO₂ doped Y123 blocks.