Investigation on the levitation force behaviour of malic acid added bulk MgB2 superconductors

• The effects of malic acid addition on the levitation force properties of bulk MgB2 has been first time investigated and reported.
• The malic acid adding has a positive impact on the levitation properties.
• 4 wt% and 6 wt% malic acid added samples exhibited a higher vertical and lateral force than pure sample.

The effects of malic acid addition (from 0 to 15 wt% of the total MgB2) on the levitation force properties of bulk MgB2 have been investigated. All samples were prepared from magnesium powder, amorphous boron powder, malic acid (C4H6O5) and toluene (C7H8) by using two-step solid state reaction method. Vertical and lateral levitation force measurements that are under both zero-field-cooled (ZFC) and field-cooled (FC) regimes were carried out at different temperatures of 24, 28 and 32 K for samples with various adding level. It was found that the reasonable malic acid adding has a positive impact on the levitation properties. At 24 K and 28 K, the 4 wt% and 6 wt% malic acid added samples exhibits a higher levitation force than pure sample. In the case of the optimally additive 4 wt% sample, the maximum levitation force corresponds to 18.60 N, whereas the pure sample shows 16.95 N at 24 K for ZFC regime. In this study the enhancing effect of malic acid adding on the levitation force properties of MgB2 has been first time investigated and reported.