Enhancement in transport properties of seeded melt-textured YBCO by Cu-site doping

Abstract

A significant research effort has been made worldwide to introduce nanometre-scale weak superconducting regions into seeded melt-textured superconductors to enhance their critical current density, trapped magnetic field and levitation force. The enhancement in these properties is dependent on the pinning forces exerted on the magnetic flux lines. In this paper we present a substantial improvement in the transport properties of these materials by optimizing the fabrication conditions, controlling the oxygen deficiency, as well as adjusting the doping level of Zn in YBa2(Cu1−xZnx)3O7−δ large grains. The enhancement is found to be as much as 30% by doping between about x = 0.001 25 and 0.002 53. The results strongly indicate that the introduction of local nanometre-scale weak superconducting regions by Zn substitution for Cu in the CuO2 plane enhances the transport properties. Due to the simplicity of the processing conditions, these doping techniques can have a significant potential for a variety of engineering applications.

Superconductor Permanent Magnets for Advanced Propulsion Applications

“…NdBCO, SmBCO) is placed on the top surface (Zhou et al, 2002). NdBCO, SmBCO) is placed on the top surface (Zhou et al, 2002).…”

High performance fluorine-free MOD YBa2Cu3O7-z film preparation by partial melting process

“…YBCO-based CCs are promising in applications such as transmission cables, motors, generators, magnetic energy storage system, etc. Research and development activities are focused on the achievement of high infield critical current densities, preparation of thick films carrying high engineering current densities, fabrication of high quality as well as long length tapes or wires and exploration of novel deposition methods with low costs and high efficiency [3][4][5]. YBCO film, as the superconducting layer, is especially significant to improve the performance of CCs.…”

Flux pinning properties in YBa2Cu3O7−δ multilayered films with second phases prepared by PLD method

“…So, no crucial damage to superconductivity by the introduction of Y 2 O 3 is expected. On the other hand, ZnO inclusions have been studied for flux pinning improvements in melt processed YBCO [7][8][9]. It has been established that substituting the Cu site in [10], while the local suppression of superconductivity due to the substitution generates the field induced flux pinning.…”