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.     

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.     

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.     

Effect of temperature and concentration of solution in chemical treatment for MgB2 powder on the Jc–B property of ex situ processed MgB2 superconducting tapes

MgB₂ tapes were fabricated through an ex situ process in a powder-in-tube (PIT) technique using powders treated at elevated temperatures in benzene solutions of benzoic acid with various concentrations. The amount of carbon substitution in MgB₂ in heat-treated tapes with treatment at the boiling points (BPs) of the solutions is smaller than that at room temperature (RT). This carbon substitution improves the J_c property in the high-field region. For RT treatment, the J_c property is improved with increasing the solution concentration. In contrast, the J_c property is deteriorated with increasing the concentration for BP treatment. On the other hand, treatment with pure solvent does not bring about the J_c enhancement and carbon substitution at all at both RT and the BPs. This suggests that acidity essential for the dissolution of MgO layers attached to the surface of MgB₂ is required for carbon substitution. The BP treatment enhances the acting of the acidity and possibly inflicts damage on MgB₂ itself.     

Effect of sorbic acid doping on flux pinning in bulk MgB2 with the percolation model

In this paper, we study the doping effect of sorbic acid (C₆H₈O₂), from 0 to 20 wt.% of the total MgB₂, on critical temperature (T_c), critical current density (J_c), irreversibility field (H_irr) and crystalline structure. The XRD patterns of samples show a slightly decrease in a-axis lattice parameter for doped samples, due to the partial substitution of carbon at boron site. On the other hand, we investigate the influence of doping on the behavior of flux pinning and J_c(B) in the framework of percolation theory and it is found that the J_c(B) behavior could be well fitted in high field region. The two key parameters, anisotropy and percolation threshold, play very important roles. It is believed that the enhancement of J_c is due to the reduction of anisotropy in high field region.     

The superconducting properties of Cu-doped MgB2 bulks prepared by a high-energy milling method

The Cu-doped MgB₂ bulks were prepared by a high-energy milling and subsequent sintering method. Compared to the pure and Cu-doped bulks prepared only by sintering, the critical current density (J_c) of the milled Cu-doped samples was improved with a slight decrease in critical transition temperature (T_c). Using the phase analysis and microstructure observation, it has been found that the MgB₂ grains in the milled Cu-doped sample was refined with the high-energy milling and thus provided more grain boundary pinning, which was contributed to the improvement of J_c at high field.     

On the superconductivity in in situ synthesized MgB2 tapes

Single core stainless steel (SS) sheathed MgB₂ tapes have been made by the powder-in-tube (PIT) method using commercial Mg and B powders in two series, one with nominal composition and the other with excess Mg. The electrical resistivity and susceptibility measurements have been carried out to evaluate residual resistivity ratio (RRR), the coherence length ξ(0) and critical current density J_C(T) in these tapes. Detailed structural analysis of the core material has been carried out to correlate the superconducting properties with the crystallinity. In the optimized growth condition the MgB₂ tapes exhibited an estimated J_C of ∼1.4×10⁷ A/m² at 39.45 K in zero field and the zero temperature coherence length is found to be ∼68 Å. MgB₂ tapes fabricated from starting powders having nominal Mg-composition have been shown to exhibit higher J_C than those fabricated from excess magnesium composition of the starting powders. The strained lattice together with the presence of nanosized MgO inclusion having size smaller than the coherence length, are shown to be responsible for the observed higher J_C.     

Flux pinning in columnar-structured and single crystalline MgB2 films

We have investigated the flux pinning effect of columnar grain boundary in columnar-structured and single crystalline MgB₂ films. The MgB₂ films with columnar structure showed much higher J_c than that of single crystalline thin film, and sample having smaller grain size had a higher J_c in high magnetic fields. At 5 K, the MgB₂ film with grain size of 460 nm showed an abnormal double-peak behavior in pining force density, F_p(B), caused by competition of different types of pinning sites, such as planar defects and point defects. Field dependences of F_p in columnar-structured films suggest that the columnar grain boundary is a strong pinning source in the MgB₂ film and it plays a crucial role in enhancing J_c over a wide range of magnetic fields and temperatures.     

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.     

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.     

Critical current density in MgB2 bulk samples after co-doping with nano-SiC and poly zinc acrylate complexes

The co-doped MgB₂ bulk samples have been synthesized using an in situ reaction processing. The additives is 8 wt.% SiC nano powders and 10 wt.% [(CH₂CHCOO)₂Zn]_n poly zinc acrylate complexes (PZA). A systematic study was performed on samples doped with SiC or PZA and samples co-doped with both of them. The effects of doping and co-doping on phase formation, microstructure, and the variation of lattice parameters were studied. The amount of substituted carbon, the critical temperature (T_c) and the critical current density (J_c) were determined. The calculated lattice parameters show the decrease of the a-axis, while no obvious change was detected for c-axis parameter in co-doped samples. This indicates that the carbon was substituted by boron in MgB₂. The amount of substituted carbon for the co-doped sample shows an enhancement compared to that of the both single doped samples. The co-doped samples perform the highest J_c values, which reaches 3.3 × 10⁴ A/cm² at 5 K and 7 T. It is shown that co-doping with SiC and organic compound is an effective way to further improve the superconducting properties of MgB₂.     

Superconductivity in porous MgB2

Porous magnesium diboride samples have been prepared by the heat treatment of a pressed mixture of Mg and MgB₂ powders. It was found that linked superconducting structure is formed down to the minimum normalized density γ_c=d/d₀≅0.16 (percolation threshold), where d is the density of MgB₂ averaged over the sample, d₀=2.62 g/cm³ is the X-ray density. Lattice parameters and critical temperature of the porous sample decrease with increasing porosity (decreasing γ) and T_c2≅32 K is minimal at γ_c. The grain boundaries in the porous samples are transparent for the current and J_c∼3×10⁵ A/cm² in self field at T=20 K in the samples with γ∼0.24.     

Effect of polymers doping on flux pinning behavior of MgB2

The effects of polymers doping on irreversibility field (H_irr) and critical current density (J_c) of MgB₂ have been investigated in this work. It is found that both J_c, and H_irr, are improved by doping at relative lower temperature region. The J_c−B curves of all samples studied in this work are well fitted using J_c(B) formula in percolation model. The values of upper critical field anisotropy (γ) are obtained from the fitting result at various temperatures. It is observed that values of γ for polymers doping samples are reduced at these temperatures. This is considered to be responsible for the enhancement of values of J_c for doped samples. Moreover, the percolation threshold, p_c, is found to be enhanced with increasing temperature. It is believed that the grain boundary pinning is still dominating in MgB₂, while the deviation of experimental data from the theoretical values is due to the percolation of suppercurrent in polycrystalline MgB₂.     

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.     

Pinning mechanism in carbon nanotube doping of MgB2 superconductor

MgB_1.9C_0.1 samples are synthesized under the ambient pressure (AP) and high pressure (HP), respectively. The further studies demonstrate different field-dependence of the critical current density J_c(H) in each sample. In the view of two-gap superconductivity in these samples, δT_c pinning (resulting from the spatial fluctuations of the transition temperature) is dominant in the AP sample, while in the HP sample, both δT_c and δl pinning (due to the mean-free-path fluctuations) act together and their contributions vary with temperature. Besides the improvement of H_c2(0), due to the different pinning mechanism, J_c(H) of the HP sample shows a slower decay with the increasing fields than that of the AP sample in high fields, which suggests a possible method of retarding the rapid decay of J_c(H) under elevated fields.     

Effect of SiC buffer layer on flux pinning property of MgB2 tapes

In this paper we aimed at investigating the flux pinning property of MgB₂ films on hastelloy tapes which are buffered on various thicknesses of SiC layers. We have observed that the increase in thickness of the SiC buffer layer is very closely related with the systematic improvement of the field dependence of the critical current densities (J_c) of MgB₂ tapes while the values of J_c decreased. According to the analysis of the pinning force density (F_p), there exist two pinning sources both in the pure MgB₂ and in the MgB₂ film with the thinnest SiC buffer layer. On the while, the pinning source observed in the MgB₂ films with thicker SiC buffer layers appears to be different from those previously mentioned. The different pinning behaviors of MgB₂ films may suggest that there be an additional pinning center working on the MgB₂ films with thick SiC buffer layers. The microstructural analyses of MgB₂ films confirmed that intra-granular defects and columnar grain boundaries may be a dominant pinning mechanism in the pure MgB₂ and the MgB₂ film with 170 nm-thick SiC buffer layer. For the MgB₂ films with thicker SiC buffer layers, carbon diffusion into the MgB₂ film, which is defined by the Auger electron spectroscopy, may be the origin of the additional pinning mechanism.     

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     

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.     

高性能MgB2长线材制备及性能表征

采用原位粉末装管工艺，分别以Mg粉(99.5%)，无定形B粉(99.9%)为原料，以纳米SiC(10—30nm)作为掺杂材料制备铁基MgB₂线.首先将已混合的原料在丙酮介质中球磨，真空干燥后，将粉末填入铁管内，然后通过孔型轧制、旋锻和拉拔等冷加工工艺得到11m长外径Ф1.75mm铁基MgB₂超导线.用扫描电镜，电子能谱，X射线衍射仪和超导量子干涉仪测试发现，样品微观结构整齐，晶粒大小均匀，内部仅含微量MgO，T_C(onset)=35.1K，ΔT_C＝5.3K.纳米SiC掺杂后，其中C造成MgB₂晶格畸变，形成有效磁通钉扎中心，C元素在MgB₂中分布均匀.标准四引线测试结果表明，11m线均分10段后，各点的J_c(4.2K,10T)均超过1.0×10⁴A/cm^{2，最高值达到1.2×104A/cm2.在10—18T范围各点临界电流值分布均匀，变化率小于10%.}