Effects of nano-carbon doping and sintering temperature on microstructure and properties of MgB2

We fabricated nano-carbon (NC) doped MgB₂ bulks using an in situ process in order to improve the critical current density (J_c) under a high magnetic field and evaluated the correlated effects of the doped carbon content and sintering temperature on the phase formation, microstructure and critical properties. MgB_2−xC_x bulks with x = 0 and 0.05 were fabricated by pressing the powder into pellets and sintering at 800 °C, 900 °C, or 1000 °C for 30 min.We observed that NC was an effective dopant for MgB₂ and that part of it was incorporated into the MgB₂ while the other part remained (undoped), which reduced the grain size. The actual C content was estimated to be 68–90% of the nominal content. The NC doped samples exhibited lower T_c values and better J_c(B) behavior than the undoped samples. The doped sample sintered at 900 °C showed the highest J_c value due to its high doping level, small amount of second phase, and fine grains. On the other hand, the J_c was decreased at a sintering temperature of 1000 °C as a result of the formation of MgB₄ phase.     

Iron doping effect on superconducting properties of MgB2

Iron-doped MgB₂ bulks are prepared by hybridized diffusion method using nano-powder and macro-powder of pure iron as iron source. The doping effect on superconductivity transition temperature, T_c, and critical current J_c have been investigated. It is found that both T_c and J_c of MgB₂ show quite different features depending on the particle size of the dopant powders. It is demonstrated that different from iron bulk or large size powders, iron nano-powders are active dopant for MgB₂ which suppresses both T_c and J_c of MgB₂.     

Influence of different mixing ratios of Mg and B powder on structural and superconducting properties in MgB2

We fabricated MgB₂ bulks by an in situ Mg diffusive reaction method from compacted B and compacted mixtures of Mg and B respectively. All samples were sintered at 1100 °C for 2 h. MgO impurity phase, density, and critical current density (J_c) were found to be dependent of the starting amount of mixing Mg powder. We also found that the MgO formation in MgB₂ matrix was not mainly attributed to the starting amount of additional Mg powder for Mg diffusive reaction. This indicates that MgO presented in the starting Mg powder is hardly diffused into compacted B.     

Pore formation in in situ processed MgB2 superconductors

MgB₂ bulks were prepared by an in situ process which utilizes the reaction between boron and magnesium powder. The reaction time was fixed at 0.5 h and the temperature was changed from 600 °C to 1000 °C. The density decrease due to pore formation and mass (mainly magnesium) loss during the formation reaction of MgB₂ was observed in all samples. In addition to the pore formation, a pellet expansion which can be explained by the outgrowth of MgB₂ grains was also observed. Two different mechanisms were adopted to explain the pore formation; Kirkendall pores formed at a temperature below the melting point (m.p.) of magnesium by a difference in the diffusivity between magnesium and boron, and the pores formed at a temperature above the m.p. by melting of magnesium and a capillary movement. The density, T_c and J_c results suggest that the current carrying capacity can be improved by a careful control of the process parameters regarding a pore evolution.     

Microstructural and superconducting properties of C6H6 added bulk MgB2 superconductor

The effect of aromatic hydrocarbon (benzene, C₆H₆) addition on lattice parameters, microstructure, critical temperature (T_c), critical current density (J_c) of bulk MgB₂ has been studied. In this work only 2 mol% C₆H₆ addition was found to be very effective in increasing the J_c values, while resulting in slight reduction of the T_c. J_c values of 2 mol% C₆H₆ added MgB₂ bulks reached to 1.83×10⁶ A/cm² at 15 K and 0 T. Microstructural analyses suggest that J_c enhancement is associated with the substitution of carbon with boron and which also results in the smaller MgB₂ grain size. The change in the lattice parameters or the lattice disorder is claimed as a cause of the slight reduction in the T_c by carbon addition. We note that our results show the advantages of C₆H₆ addition include homogeneous mixing of precursor powders, avoidance of expansive nanoadditives, production of highly reactive C, and significant enhancement in J_c of MgB₂, compared to un-doped samples.     

钛离子辐照对MgB2超导薄膜的载流能力和磁通钉扎能力的影响

利用混合物理化学气相沉积法(hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition, HPCVD)可以制备出高性能的MgB₂超导薄膜, 再对薄膜进行钛(Ti)离子辐照处理.经过辐照处理后的样品被掺入了Ti元素, 与未处理的干净MgB₂样品相比,其超导转变温度没有出现大幅度的下降, 而在外加磁场下的临界电流密度得到了明显的提高,同时样品的上临界磁场也得到了提高. 在温度5 K, 外加垂直磁场为4 T的情况下, Ti离子辐照剂量为1× 10¹³/cm²的样品的临界电流密度达到了1.72× 10⁵ A/cm², 比干净的MgB₂要高出许多,而其超导转变温度仍能维持在39.9 K的较高水平.     

SQUID法和Campbell法测量超导材料的研究

本文对比研究了超导材料磁测量中的SQUID法和Campbell法; 并用高压PIT法制备的超导材料MgB₂作为测量样品,用两种方法,测量了超导样品的临界电流密度, 分别得到了样品的J_c-B关系曲线; SQUID法测量样品的外磁场可以达到6 T, 此时材料已经处于失超状态,此方法测得的结果是样品各个小区域结果的平均值, SQUID还可以用来进一步标度材料的钉扎力行为,研究材料磁特性. Campbell法测量只能测量到外磁场强度为0.4 T,外磁场的交流部分的频率可以达到800 Hz, 用这种测量方法得到的是整块样品的电流,由于测量计及材料内部微观结构缺陷等影响电流传输因素, 所测结果小于直流磁化法,但更切近材料实际电流,能用来深入研究材料内部结构差别对材料电性能的影响.     

Concurrent doping effect of Ti and nano-diamond on flux pinning of MgB2

Nano-diamond and titanium concurrently doped MgB₂ nanocomposites have been prepared by solid state reaction method. The effects of carbon and Ti concurrent doping on J_c–H behavior and pinning force scaling features of MgB₂ have been investigated. Although T_c was slightly depressed, J_c of MgB₂ have been significantly improved by the nano-diamond doping, especially in the high field region. In the mean time, the J_c value in low field region is sustained though concurrent Ti doping. Microstructure analysis reveals that when nano-diamond was concurrently doped with titanium in MgB₂, a unique nanocomposite in which TiB₂ forms a thin layer surrounding MgB₂ grains whereas nano-diamond particles were wrapped inside the MgB₂ grains. Besides, nano-diamond doping results in a high density stress field in the MgB₂ samples, which may take responsibility for the Δκ pinning behavior in the carbon-doped MgB₂ system.     

MgB2 coated superconducting tapes with high critical current densities fabricated by hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition

The MgB₂ coated superconducting tapes have been fabricated on textured Cu (0 0 1) and polycrystalline Hastelloy tapes using coated conductor technique, which has been developed for the second generation high temperature superconducting wires. The MgB₂/Cu tapes were fabricated over a wide temperature range of 460-520 °C by using hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition (HPCVD) technique. The tapes exhibited the critical temperatures (T_c) ranging between 36 and 38 K with superconducting transition width (ΔT_c) of about 0.3-0.6 K. The highest critical current density (J_c) of 1.34 × 10⁵ A/cm² at 5 K under 3 T is obtained for the MgB₂/Cu tape grown at 460 °C. To further improve the flux pinning property of MgB₂ tapes, SiC is coated as an impurity layer on the Cu tape. In contrast to pure MgB₂/Cu tapes, the MgB₂ on SiC-coated Cu tapes exhibited opposite trend in the dependence of J_c with growth temperature. The improved flux pinning by the additional defects created by SiC-impurity layer along with the MgB₂ grain boundaries lead to strong improvement in J_c for the MgB₂/SiC/Cu tapes. The MgB₂/Hastelloy superconducting tapes fabricated at a temperature of 520 °C showed the critical temperatures ranging between 38.5 and 39.6 K. We obtained much higher J_c values over the wide field range for MgB₂/Hastelloy tapes than the previously reported data on other metallic substrates, such as Cu, SS, and Nb. The J_c values of J_c(20 K, 0 T) ∼5.8 × 10⁶ A/cm² and J_c(20 K, 1.5 T) ∼2.4 × 10⁵ A/cm² is obtained for the 2-μm-thick MgB₂/Hastelloy tape. This paper will review the merits of coated conductor approach along with the HPCVD technique to fabricate MgB₂ conductors with high T_c and J_c values which are useful for large scale applications.     

柠檬酸掺杂的MgB2超导体钉扎机理的研究

本文研究了柠檬酸掺杂的MgB₂超导材料的J_c-B行为及其钉扎机理.在纯MgB₂多晶样品中,δT_c钉扎起主要作用,而在掺杂的样品中,则是δl钉扎和δT_c钉扎共同作用,并且δl钉扎机理占主要作用,其贡献比重随着掺杂量的增加而增加.从J_c-B行为和钉扎行为的分析都可以得到 关键词： 柠檬酸 2')" href="#">MgB₂ T_c钉扎')" href="#">δT_c钉扎 l钉扎')" href="#">δl钉扎     

Effect of grain-boundary flux pinning in MgB2 with columnar structure

We studied the flux pinning properties by grain boundaries in MgB₂ films prepared by using a hybrid physical chemical vapor deposition method on the c-axis oriented sapphire substrates. All the films we report here had the columnar grains with the growth direction perpendicular to the substrates and the grain sizes in the range of a few hundred nanometers. At very low magnetic fields, no discernable grain-boundary (GB) pinning effect was observed in all measuring temperatures, but above those fields, the effect of GB flux pinning was observed as enhanced critical current densities (J_cs) and reduced resistances when an external magnetic field (B) was aligned parallel to the c-axis. We interpret the B dependence of J_c in the terms of flux line lattice shear inside the columnar grains activated by dislocations of Frank–Read source while the flux lines pinned by GB act as anchors for dislocations. Magnetic field dependence of flux pinning force density for B parallel to the c-axis was reasonably explained by the above model.     

Effects of surface damage on critical current density in MgB2 thin films

We investigated the influence of surface damage on the critical current density (J_c) of MgB₂ thin films via 140-keV Co-ion irradiation. The J_c(H) of the surface-damaged MgB₂ films was remarkably improved in comparison with that of pristine films. The strong enhancement of J_c(H) caused by a surface damage in MgB₂ films can be ascribed to additional point defects along with an atomic lattice displacement introduced through low-energy Co-ion irradiation, which is consistent with the change in the pinning mechanism, from weak collective pinning to strong plastic pinning. The irreversible magnetic field (H_irr) at 5 K for surface-damaged MgB₂ films with a thickness of 850 and 1300 nm was increased by a factor of approximately 2 compared with that of a pristine film. These results show that the surface damage produced by low energy ion irradiation can serve as an effective pinning source to improve J_c(H) in a MgB₂ superconductor.     

Global and local critical current density in superconducting SmFeAsO1−xFx measured by two methods

The critical current densities of polycrystalline bulk SmFeAsO_1−xF_x prepared by the powder-in-tube (PIT) method and by a conventional solid-state reaction were investigated using the remnant magnetic moment method and Campbell’s method. Two types of shielding current, corresponding to global and local critical current densities J_c were observed using both measurement methods. The global and local J_c were on the order of 10⁷ A/m² and 10¹⁰ A/m² at 5 K, respectively. The local J_c decreased slightly with increasing magnetic field. The global J_c was independent of the preparation method, while the local J_c was larger for samples prepared by PIT than for those prepared by solid-state reaction.     

Influence of Y2Cu2O5 nanoparticles doping on superconducting properties of YBa2Cu3O7-δ

ABSTRACT

The blue phase of YBa₂Cu₃O_{7- δ} (YBCO) family, Y₂Cu₂O₅ (Y202) nanoparticles were prepared and doped into (YBCO) superconductor and the effect of doping on critical current density and critical temperature was investigated. Y202 nanoparticles with particle sizes of 47, 107 and 206?nm were prepared by a sol–gel combustion method and added into the YBCO superconductor by 0.5–2?wt.%. XRD and scanning electron microscope measurements were used to characterize the samples. The measurement of critical current density at 77?K revealed that the doped superconductors had larger critical current density compared to the undoped superconductors. For a fixed dopant concentration, by increasing the size of nanoparticles, the J_c was increased. For the samples including 0.5?wt.% of nanoadditives, J_c was higher. The highest critical current density of 137?A/cm² was measured for the superconductors containing 0.5?wt.% of 206?nm Y202 nanoparticles. Also, by increasing the nanoparticles concentration, the T_c was reduced.     

Bulk MgB2 superconductor with high critical current density synthesized by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis method

Pure MgBMgB2 超导体 临界密度 自我传播 预热温度 超导电性SHS method, bulk MgB₂ superconductor, superconductivityProject supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Gansu province of China (Grant No ZS032-B25-019).2005-03-187/2/2005 12:00:00 AMPure MgB2 bulk samples are successfully synthesized by self-propagatlng hlgh-temperature synthesis （SHS） method. The experiments show that the best preheating temperature is 250℃, the highest Jc values of the prepared MgB2 reach 1.5×10^6A/cm^2 （10K, 0.5T） and 1.7×10^6A/cm^2 （20K, 0T）, and the MgB2 particle sizes range from 2 to 5μm. The advantages of this method are that it is simple, economical and suitable for the manufacture of bulk MgB2 materials on industrial scale.     

Vortex pinning properties of –Ba–Cu–O and –Ba–Cu–O superconducting bulks

We have studied the effect of a small amount of Y-site substitution by La or Pr ions on the vortex pinning in the Y–Ba–Cu–O system. (Y_1-xLa_x)–Ba–Cu–O and (Y_1-xPr_x)–Ba–Cu–O bulks were fabricated by the melt-textured growth, in which x was varied from 0 to 0.01. The critical current density J_c at 77 K is improved in magnetic fields parallel to the c-axis above 2–4.5 T and the corresponding irreversibility field, H_irr, shifts to the higher value in both bulks.     

Enhancement of Jc by Hf-doping in the superconductor MgB2: A hyperfine interaction study

Measurements of the critical current density (J_c) by magnetisation and the upper critical field (H_c2) by magnetoresistance have been performed for hafnium-doped MgB₂. There has been a remarkable enhancement of J_c as compared to that by ion irradiation without any appreciable decrease in T_c, which is beneficial from the point of view of applications. The irreversibility line extracted from J_c shows an upward shift. In addition, there has been an increase in the upper critical field which indicates that Hf partially substitutes for Mg. Hyperfine interaction parameters obtained from time differential perturbed angular correlation (TDPAC) measurements revealed the formation of HfB and HfB₂ phases along with the substitution of Hf. A possible explanation is given for the role of these species in the enhancement of J_c in MgB₂ superconductor.     

MgB2 coated conductors directly grown on flexible metallic Hastelloy tapes by hybrid physical–chemical vapor deposition

MgB₂ coated conductors (CCs), which can avoid the low packing density problem of powder-in-tube (PIT) processed wires, can be a realistic solution for practical engineering applications. Here we report on the superior superconducting properties of MgB₂ CCs grown directly on the flexible metallic Hastelloy tapes without any buffer layer at various deposition temperatures from 520 to 600 °C by using hybrid physical–chemical vapor deposition (HPCVD) technique. The superconducting transition temperatures (T_c) are in the range of 38.5–39.4 K, comparable to bulk samples and high quality thin films. Clear (101) and (002) reflection peaks of MgB₂ are observed in the X-ray diffraction patterns without any indication of chemical reaction between MgB₂ and Hastelloy tapes. From scanning electron microscopy, it was found that connection between MgB₂ grains and voids strongly depend on the growth temperature. A systematic increase in the flux pinning force density and thereby the critical current density with decreasing growth temperature was observed for the MgB₂ CCs. The critical current density (J_c) of J_c(5 K, 0 T) ～10⁷ A/cm² and J_c(5 K, 2.5 T) ～10⁵ A/cm² has been obtained for the sample fabricated at a low growth temperature of 520 °C. The enhanced J_c (H) behavior can be understood on the basis of the variation in the microstructure of MgB₂ CCs with growth temperature.     

High-density MgB2 superconducting bulk samples prepared at ambient pressure

High-density MgB₂ (HD-MgB₂) superconducting samples (D ⩾ 2.2 g/cm³), using different sources of magnesium powder as raw material, were synthesized in ambient pressure in a rich Mg environment. The magnesium powders used in the fabrication process include nanometer-sized magnesium particles, powders from Alfa Aesar, ordinary off-the-shelf powder, and magnesium chip. The fabrication procedure involved a double-sintering process in a rich-Mg environment. A transition temperature T _c of 39 K was observed. Samples with the equally high density and matching superconducting properties were obtained as well by a triple sintering process of the MgB₂ powder directly from Alfa Aesar.      

Role of processing in improving the critical current of Ag/BPSCCO tapes

Silver-clad tapes of highT _c Bi-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O superconductors have been fabricated through the powder-in-tube method. The critical current density, J _c , of a thick tape was 534 A.cm⁻² (77 K, 0 T). Subsequent rolling and sintering of the tapes led to a gradual decrease inJ _c, instead of the expected increase. This was caused by the microcracks developed in the core material by a rather drastic reduction during the rolling of the tapes. A modified and well controlled rolling technique, on the other hand, resulted in much improvedJ _c values. Repeated rolling and sintering resulted in a good grain alignment and no microcracks were observed. In the present studies, maximumJ _c of 1846 A.cm⁻² (77 K, 0 T) and 2.43 × 10⁴ A.cm⁻² (4.2 K, 0 T) have been obtained Optimization of the processing and sintering parameters are expected to lead to still higherJ _c values.