Improvement of Mechanical Characteristics and Performances with Ni Diffusion Mechanism Throughout Bi-2223 Superconducting Matrix

This study is interested in the role of diffusion annealing temperature (650-850 degrees C) on the mechanical characteristics and performance of pure and Ni diffused Bi-2223 superconducting materials by means of standard compression tests and Vickers hardness measurements at performed different applied loads in the range of 0.245-2.940N and theoretical calculations. Based on the experimental findings, the mechanical performances improve with increasing annealing temperature up to 700 degrees C beyond which they degrade drastically due to the increased artificial disorders, cracks and irregular grain orientation distribution. In other words, the penetration of excess Ni inclusions accelerates both the dislocation movement and especially the cracks and voids propagation as a result of the decrement in the Griffith critical crack length. Further, it is to be mentioned here that all the sample exhibit typical indentation size effect (ISE) behavior. In this respect, both the plastic (irreversible) and elastic (reversible) deformations have dominant role on the superconducting structures as a result of the enhancement in the elastic recovery. At the same time elastic modulus, yield strength and fracture toughness parameters are theoretically extracted from the microhardness values. Moreover, the elastic modulus parameters are compared with the experimental values. It is found that the differentiation between the comparison results enhances hastily with the increment in the applied indentation test loads due to the existence of the increased permanent disorders, lattice defects and strains in the stacked layers. Namely, the error level increases away from the actual crystal structure. Additionally, the microhardness values are theoretically analyzed for the change of the mechanical behaviors with the aid of Meyer's law, elastic/plastic deformation and Hays-Kendall approaches for the first time