Advancing processing of the ternary (Sm,Eu,Gd)Ba2Cu3O7-y superconductor via top-seeded infiltration growth

Abstract

In this study, we present the fabrication of large single-domain ternary (Sm,Eu,Gd)Ba2Cu3O7-y bulk superconductor with enhanced superconducting properties using various REBa2Cu3Oy (RE-123) as a liquid source via the top-seeded infiltration growth process (TSIG) in air. We employed a 1:1 ratio of REBa2Cu3Oy (RE = Sm, Gd, Y and Er) and Ba3Cu5O8 as a liquid source for fabrication. Impressively, all the obtained bulk samples exhibited a superconducting transition temperature T(c, onset) above 94 K. However, the bulk sample fabricated using Y-123 + Ba3Cu5O8 as a liquid source demonstrated a T(c, onset) of 94.53 K, with a 40.14 % improvement in transition width (ΔTc) and at 77 K the bulk recorded a self-field critical current density (Jc) value of 44.73 kA/cm2 & 10.62 kA/cm2 at 1T resulting in a remarkable 93.08 % improvement in self-field Jc compared to the bulk sample fabricated using Er-123 + Ba3Cu5O8. Microstructural analysis using a scanning electron microscope revealed a significant reduction in the mean size of secondary (211) phase particles, a significant reduction of 38.41 % is observed for the Y-123 + Ba3Cu5O8 employed sample.