157 research outputs found
"Magnetoscan": A Modified Hall Probe Scanning Technique for the Detection of Inhomogeneities in Bulk High Temperature Superconductors
We present a novel technique for the investigation of local variations of the
critical current density in large bulk superconductors. In contrast to the
usual Hall probe scanning technique, the sample is not magnetized as a whole
before the scan, but locally by a small permanent magnet, which is fixed near
the Hall probe, during the scanning process. The resulting signal can be
interpreted as a qualitative measure of the local shielding currents flowing at
the surface.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Studies of cracking behavior in melt-processed YBCO bulk superconductors
An important phenomenon in bulk superconductors fabricated by top-seeded-melt growth (TSMG) is the formation of cracks due to the inherent brittleness of the YBa2Cu3O7-δ (Y-123) phase matrix. These form during the fabrication of the superconducting monolith and play an important role in the limitation of current flow. However, cracks may also form during cooling cycles of the sample to liquid nitrogen temperatures. In this investigation, macrocracks along the c-direction, in particular were analyzed microscopically before and after cooling. In addition we attempt to resolve the c-axis macrocrack formation pattern using the magnetoscan technique
Evolution of the fishtail-effect in pure and Ag-doped MG-YBCO
We report on magnetic measurements carried out in a textured
YBaCuO and YBa(CuAg)O (at
0.02) crystals. The so-called fishtail-effect (FE) or second
magnetization peak has been observed in a wide temperature range
0.4~~0.8 for . The origin of the FE arises for
the competition between surface barrier and bulk pinning. This is confirmed in
a non-monotonically behavior of the relaxation rate . The value
for Ag-doped crystals is larger than for the pure one due to the presence of
additional pinning centers, above all on silver atoms.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
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Studies of cracking behavior in melt-processed YBCO bulk superconductors
An important phenomenon in bulk superconductors fabricated by top-seeded-melt growth (TSMG) is the formation of cracks due to the inherent brittleness of the YBa2Cu3O7-δ (Y-123) phase matrix. These form during the fabrication of the superconducting monolith and play an important role in the limitation of current flow. However, cracks may also form during cooling cycles of the sample to liquid nitrogen temperatures. In this investigation, macrocracks along the c-direction, in particular were analyzed microscopically before and after cooling. In addition we attempt to resolve the c-axis macrocrack formation pattern using the magnetoscan technique
Growth-related profiles of remanent flux in bulk melt-textured YBaCuO crystal magnetized by pulsed fields
We have studied the remanent magnetic flux distribution in bulk melt-textured
YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) crystals after their magnetization in quasi-static and pulsed
magnetic fields up to 6T. It has been shown that, provided that the magnetic
pulse is sharp enough and its amplitude much exceeds the twice penetration
magnetic field, the pulse magnetization technique becomes extremely sensitive
to the sample inhomogeneities. Using this method with appropriate parameters of
the magnetic pulse, we have particularly demonstrated that the growth of YBCO
crystals in the growth sectors (GSs) responds for a macroscopic arrangement of
weaks links -- they mostly appear inside of GSs, but not along the GS
boundaries.Comment: 8 pages in LaTeX2e, 5 figures. Revised version, submitted to
Supercond. Sci. Techno
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Comparison of the effects of platinum and CeO on the properties of single grain, Sm-Ba-Cu-O bulk superconductors
SmBaCuO (Sm-123) is a light-rare-earth barium-cuprate (LRE-BCO) high-temperature superconductor (HTS) with significant potential for high field industrial applications. We report the fabrication of large, single grain bulk [Sm–Ba–Cu–O (SmBCO)] superconductors containing 1 wt% CeO and 0.1 wt% Pt using a top-seeded melt growth process. The performance of the SmBCO bulk superconductors containing the different dopants was evaluated based on an analysis of their superconducting properties, including critical transition temperature, and critical current density, , and on sample microstructure. We find that both CeO and Pt dopants refine the size of SmBaCuO (Sm-211) particles trapped in the Sm-123 superconducting phase matrix, which act as effective flux pinning centres, although the addition of CeO results in broadly improved superconducting performance of the fully processed bulk single grain. However, 1 wt% CeO is significantly cheaper than 0.1 wt% Pt, which has clear economic benefits for use in medium to large scale production processes for these technologically important materials. Finally, the use of CeO results generally in the formation of finer Sm-211 particles and to the generation of fewer macro-cracks and Sm-211 free regions in the sample microstructure.This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant ID: EP/K02910X/1). Authors would like to acknowledge the support from project: APVV No. 0330-12, VEGA 2/0121/16
Investigation of grain orientations of melt-textured HTSC with addition of uranium oxide, Y2O3 and Y2BaCuO5
Local grain orientations were studied in melt-textured YBCO samples processed with various amounts of depleted uranuim oxide (DU) and Y 2O3 by means of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis. The addition of DU leads to the formation of Ucontaining nanoparticles (Y2Ba4CuUOx) with sizes of around 200 nm, embedded in the superconducting Y-123 matrix. The orientation of the Y 2BaCuO5 (Y-211) particles, which are also present in the YBCO bulk microstructure, is generally random as is the case in other melttextured Y-123 samples. The presence of Y-211 particles, however, also affects the orientation of the Y-123 matrix in these samples
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