Growth and investigation of SmBCO/Ag single grain bulk for batch production of Sm123 seed crystals

Using NdBa2Cu3Oy (Nd123) bulk material as a seed, we report a success in the melt-textured growth of SmBCO/Ag bulks by cold-seeding melt-growth process. Very well-textured single domain bulks of SmBCO with 5 wt% Ag2O addition can be fabricated reproducibly under ambient atmosphere. Microstructure analysis of the obtained SmBCO/Ag bulk sample reveals that no silver particle is trapped within the mono-domain region, where the peritectic decomposition temperature goes back to the one of the Ag-free SmBCO sample. This c-axis oriented mono-domain region can be easily separated into a large amount of Sm123 seeds. Therefore, a new approach to preparation of Sm123 seed crystals in high quantity and quality can be achieved in an uncomplicated way, which exhibits significant advantage in comparison with the conventional method for Sm123 seed fabrication by MgO cold-seeding process. Experimental results show that a batch of well-textured YBCO bulks has been grown successfully by using these new Sm123 seed crystals.