Effect of milling techniques on the particle characteristics of conductive Pr-substituted YBa2Cu3O7-y compound

Abstract

In this work, the effects of milling techniques on Pr-substituted YBa2Cu3O7-y (YPrBCO) particles were investigated. The Pr-substituted YBa2Cu3O7-y powders were prepared by solid-state reaction method. The stoichiometric mixtures of Y2O3, BaCO3, CuO and Pr6O11 starting powders were calcined at 880 °C for 12 h in air to form respective compounds. The resulting products were milled for 4 – 12 h using the conventional ball milling technique and for 4 h using the high-energy planetary ball milling method. The phase and structure identification of powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. The microstructure and chemical composition were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS). The XRD patterns indicated that the pure phase of YPrBCO powders was obtained. For this material system, the conventional ball mill technique gave particles having a relatively wide particle size distribution with a maximum size of ~2 μm regardless of milling time. In contrast, the narrower particle size distribution was observed for the YPrBCO powder obtained from the high-speed ball milling method and the largest particle size did not exceed 100 nm. These results showed that the powder produced by the high-speed ball milling technique could have a potential use in colloidal solution for printed thermoelectric film.