Investigation on MgB2 superconductor doped by nano-Al powder

Nano-Al powder doped Mg1−xAlxB2 (x = 0.00, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.08) were synthesized by using solid-state reaction in a flow of high purity argon. Almost all the Al atoms substituted for the Mg atoms in the MgB2 lattice. This led to the lattice parameters and Tc of MgB2 decreasing with the increase of doping level x. Jc values of the doped samples are slightly higher than those of the undoped MgB2 bulk at the temperature under 20 K and magnetic field above 6 T, among which the doped sample with x = 0.02 exhibits excellent Jc(B) properties.