Effect of low-temperature treatment and subsequent high-temperature annealing on the critical current density of Y[Ba.sub.2][Cu.sub.3][O.sub.y]

• Published in: Physics of the solid state Vol. 54; no. 7; pp. 1332 - 1335
• Main Authors: Bobylev, I.B, Zyuzeva, N.A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 01-07-2012
• Subjects: Ceramic materials; Ceramics; Magnetic fields; Specific gravity
• DOI: 10.1134/S1063783412070074
• EISSN: 1090-6460
• ISSN: 1063-7834

The field dependences of the critical current density of the HTSC compound Y[Ba.sub.2][Cu.sub.3][O.sub.y] recovered at T = 920-950°C after the low-temperature treatment have been investigated. At T = 200°C, structural defects are formed in a wet environment, which are capable of initiating pinning of magnetic vortices. A short-term (1-3 h) recovery annealing performed at T = 930-950°C leaves in the samples a fairly large amount of structural defects formed during the low-temperature treatment, which results in a substantial increase in the critical current density in magnetic fields of ~2 T as compared to the ceramics not subjected to double annealing. A longer high-temperature treatment removes the structural defects formed and brings the electrophysical properties of Y[Ba.sub.2][Cu.sub.3][O.sub.y] to the level characteristic of the ceramics produced by standard technology.