The effect of duration of diffusion on Ag diffusion coefficients in YBa2Cu3O7

The Ag diffusion in superconducting YBa2Cu3O7 (YBaCuO) ceramic has been studied over the duration of the diffusion range 5-24 h in the temperature range 700-850 °C by the energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) technique. For the excitation of silver atoms, an annular Am-241 radioisotope source (50 mCi) emitting 59.543 keV photons was used. The temperature dependences of silver diffusion coefficients in grains (D1) and over the grain boundaries in the range 700-850 °C (D2) are described by the relations D1=1.4×10−2 exp[−(1.18±0.10)/kT] and D2=3.1×10−4 exp[−(0.87±0.10)/kT].