Investigation of flux pinning properties of YBCO:BaZrO3 composite superconductor from temperature dependent magnetization studies

Magnetization studies of YBCO:BaZrO₃ composite superconductor have been done over a wide range of temperature and applied magnetic field using MPMS SQUID VSM and the results are compared with that of pure YBCO. The analysis of the observed results indicate that there is considerable improvement in the values of critical current density (J_C) and pinning force density (F_p) of YBCO:BaZrO₃ composite samples as compared to pure YBCO sample in the entire investigated range of applied magnetic field and temperatures ranging from 4 to 77 K. The variation of J_C with reduced temperature t (=T/T_C) for the composite samples has been found to be similar to that of pure YBCO sample indicating similar nature of the vortex interaction with pinning centres in both pure and composite samples. The enhancement in the value of J_C and F_p in the composite samples as compared to pure YBCO sample has been attributed to the increased defect density in the composite samples due to the presence of BZO particles in YBCO matrix.