Optimization of vortex pinning at grain boundaries on ex-situ MgB2 bulks synthesized by spark plasma sintering

Abstract

Grain boundaries are well known to be the predominant pinning centers in MgB2 superconductors. To study the effects of grain boundaries on the trapped field properties of MgB2 bulk, we prepared MgB2 bulks by a spark plasma sintering method using a ball-milled starting powder. The trapped field was maximized for the bulk made from the ball-milled powder with crystallite size, τ, of 27 nm; the highest trapped field, , of 2.3 T achieved at 19.3 K was 1.2 times larger than that of the bulk made from the non ball-milled powder (τ = 50 nm). The degradation of the trapped field for the bulk from finer powder (τ = 6 nm) originated mainly from the lowered . The critical current density, , and the pinning force density, , were also maximized for the bulk from τ = 27 nm. The competition between the increase of the numerical density of grain boundaries and the degradation of superconductivity determined the vortex pinning properties for the MgB2 bulks with mechanically refined grains. The scaling analysis for the pinning force density suggested that the change in the dimension of the dominant pinning source from 2D (surface) to 0D (point) was induced by grain refining. Although the nanometric impurity particles such as MgB4, MgO and Mg-B-O were created in the bulk during both ball-milling and spark plasma sintering processes, we considered the point-contact between the refined grains was the predominant point pinning source.