Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8948553 | Journal of the European Ceramic Society | 2018 | 7 Pages |
Abstract
The high-temperature SmBa2Cu3O7âδ (Sm-123) superconducting system, which is characterised by a high critical transition temperature (Tc) and a high critical current density (Jc), suffers severely from the effects of Sm/Ba substitution in the superconducting Sm-123 phase matrix, and especially so for large, single grains grown in air, resulting in a significant variation in Tc at different positions within a single grain. As a result, the suppression of Sm/Ba substitution in the Sm1+xBa2âxCu3O7âδ phase matrix (SmBCO, where x represents the Sm/Ba substitution level in the SmBCO system) is critical to achieving good superconducting properties in this material. Here we report the use of Electron Probe Micro-Analysis (EPMA) to investigate, adjust and optimise the composition of mechanically-stabilised standard Ag-SmBCO bulk single grains. We show that the substitution levels within these samples changes linearly within increasing distance from the vicinity of a single crystal seed used to nucleate the single grain growth process. In addition, we identify a constant value of x of â0.080 for the composition-adjusted Ag-SmBCO bulk single grain. This is the first time that the quantification of the Sm/Ba substitution level in the SmBCO system has been measured accurately and directly using EPMA, and suggests clearly that the Sm/Ba substitution can be suppressed effectively in air. This research will provide significant insight into the development of a process to suppress Sm/Ba substitution even further in superconducting SmBCO single grains in the future.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Materials Science
Ceramics and Composites
Authors
Wen Zhao, Yunhua Shi, Difan Zhou, Anthony R. Dennis, David A. Cardwell,