Preparation of {110} textured Ag ribbons for biaxially aligned superconducting tapes

Abstract

The aim of our work is to produce biaxially aligned HTS conductors by epitaxial growth on textured Ag. This paper will focus on the preparation of long length textured Ag ribbons. After cold rolling and annealing in vacuum at 800/spl deg/C, different {110} directions appear in the recrystallized pure Ag ribbons. The {110} texture is obtained after cold rolling by adding a 500/spl deg/C step before the annealing at 800/spl deg/C. If the Ag ingots are annealed at 600/spl deg/C in vacuum before the cold rolling, the 800/spl deg/C annealing leads to a sharp {110} texture. The quality of the texture is studied by X-ray and electronic diffraction. Three X-ray pole figures are used to calculate the ODF function, a SEM is used to obtain orientation maps from EBDP. The surface roughness is studied by AFM. We have produced lengths of 25 cm with a sharp {110} texture (FWHM=7/spl deg/ ODF peak). The characteristics of the two {110} and {110} orientation are presented in detail. It is shown that those {110} ribbons are suitable for epitaxial growth of superconducting cuprates. The Ag textured ribbons are used as substrates for different superconducting systems such as Tl-1223 and Y123.