Method for the rapid production of superconducting ceramic wires or ribbons

摘要

A melt-texturing method for producing high transition temperature superconducting ceramic elements of given length, such as wires of Y Ba. sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7-&dgr;, which method is much faster and efficient than the existing ones. In this method, an element made of grains of superconducting ceramic precursor material is subjected to zone melting at a number of different locations equally spaced apart along its length. This multi-zone-melting is carried out at the same time, under the same temperature and speed conditions and in the same direction so as to form a same number of similarly textured zones along the length of the element, which zones grow up while the method progresses until they merge. This method makes it possible to multiply the present rate of production known to be very low, by a number of the same order of magnitude as the number of different locations where zone melting is carried out. If the number of locations is, say, 10, then the rate of production should be multiplied by approximatively the same number, 10.