Infiltration growth processing of bulk mixed REBa_2Cu_3O_7-x superconductors: Nano metal oxides and rare earth elements effects on microstructural properties

摘要

The REBa_2Cu_3O_(7-x) (REBCO/YBCO) based high-temperature superconductors are promising materials for high magneticfield and energy applications due to their effective flux pinning abilities. The superconducting properties of these materialsstrongly depend on the microstructure, which could be engineered by the fabrication methods, and incorporating variousdopants. Infiltration growth (IG) process is currently evolving and superior to the standard melt growth (MG) techniqueaddressing various inherent and unwanted problems. However, the IG technique is complex as compared to conventionalMG technique, and for high reproducibility, many parameters need to be optimized for every system. In thispaper, we present the engineering of the final microstructure with various nanometric metal oxides to the bulkYBCO/REBCO materials aiming to improve the field dependence of the superconducting properties. The effect of introducingvarious RE elements in IG processed YBCO/GdBCO bulk superconductors, and the evolution of microstructuressupported by thorough elemental analysis will be discussed. Emphasis will be given to the problems involved in thegrowth of mixed REBCO products in the IG process and to the microstructural properties at various stages of processingthe bulk samples.