Observations of the influence of Y-211 inclusions on melt textured growth of single domainY–Ba–Cu–O

Abstract

Single domain Y–Ba–Cu–O (YBCO) samples composed of aYBa2Cu3O7−δ (Y-123)matrix with Y2BaCuO5 (Y-211) inclusions were fabricated using the top-seed melt-textured growth (TSMTG)process. The influence of the Y-211 inclusions on the melt-textured growth mode has beenstudied for precursor pellets with a Y-123:Y-211 molar ratio of 1:0.2, 1:0.3 and 1:0.4.The surface morphologies obtained from these sintering pellets quenched from1000 °C,997 °C and 994 °C, respectively, have revealed that the initial peritectic recombination process near the seedcrystal seems to take place earlier for the Y-123 matrix with low Y-211 inclusions than forthat with a high level of Y-211 inclusions; however, the melt-textured growth rate of thesingle domain seems to be faster in the system with a high level of Y-211 inclusion than inthat with a low level.