Improvement of superconductive and mechanical properties of bulk and thin-wall MT-YBCO ceramics in oxygenation

Abstract

The possibility to oxygenate the YBa2Cu3O7−δ(Y123) structure to 7−δ ≈ 6.9 atoms (which ensures the highest temperature of transition into the superconductive state of this compound) at high temperature (800°C) and relatively low pressure (16 MPa) of oxygen has been first shown. This fact differs from the generally accepted notions of the equilibrium in the given system. It has been found that the MT-YBCO oxygenation at enhanced pressures and high temperatures decreases the oxygenation time and the amount of cracks and increases the twin density in the material, which positively affects the critical current density and mechanical characteristics of the ceramics. The experiments have shown that twins are largely responsible for high density of the critical currents jc and irreversibility fields in the MT-YBCO ceramics. In the case of high dislocation density (1012 cm−2) and low twin density (0–1 μm−1) in the Y123 structure, the critical current turned out to be an order of magnitude lower than in the case of high twin density (22 μm−1) and absence of dislocations and stacking faults. The density of twins and microcracks (parallel to the ab plane) in the structure of the YBa2Cu3O7−δ phase has been found to depend on the size of the Y2BaCuO5 inclusions and the pattern of their distribution, which in turn is defined by the initial materials. A process has been developed of the oxygenation of the thin-wall (cellular) MT-YBCO ceramics under the conditions of the controllable oxygen pressure from 0.5 kPa to 16 MPa and temperatures from 900 to 800°C. The process allows one to attain record high jc values and double the trapped magnetic field as compared to both the bulk MT-YBCO ceramics oxygenated under the same conditions and thin-wall MT-YBCO ceramics oxygenated at atmospheric pressure and optimal temperature.