Melt processing of (light rare earth) Ba 2 Cu 3 O y materials by the floating zone method

Fabien Giovannelli (1) , S. Marinel (1) , I. Monot-Laffez (2)

1 CRISMAT - Laboratoire de cristallographie et sciences des matériaux
2 GREMAN - UMR 7347 - GREMAN (matériaux, microélectronique, acoustique et nanotechnologies)

The floating zone method has been optimized to process the (light rare earth) Ba2Cu3Oy (LRE123) compound. The effects of processing rate, thermal gradient and maximal temperature have been investigated. Nd1Ba2Cu3Oy, Sm1Ba2Cu3Oy, Gd1Ba2Cu3Oy and (Nd0.33Eu0.33Gd0.33)1Ba2Cu3Oy have been processed under air and exhibited an optimal critical temperature greater than 93 K with a sharp transition. Critical current densities under self-field of 55000 A cm−2 have been reached and a fishtail effect appears under 2 T with different mixing of light rare earth. Large single domains have been obtained with the (a, b) plane oriented at 90° of the bar axis. Moreover, the composition homogeneity has been tested along the Nd123 bar. Thus, the floating zone method is an interesting process to investigate under air new compositions of LRE123.

Domains: Chemical Sciences

Fabien Giovannelli, S. Marinel, I. Monot-Laffez. Melt processing of (light rare earth) Ba 2 Cu 3 O y materials by the floating zone method. Superconductor Science and Technology, 2002, 15 (4), pp.533-538. ⟨10.1088/0953-2048/15/4/309⟩. ⟨hal-02454742⟩