Abstract:
Superconductor is a green material that conducts electricity without any energy loss and
expels penetration of magnetic flux when it is cooled below a certain temperature called
critical temperature, Tc. YBa2Cu301-6 is one of the high temperature superconductors
(HTS) discovered to show Tc above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. This implies
that YBa2Cu301-6 is a potential candidate for a wide range of usage since it can be cooled
to below its Tc economically using liquid nitrogen. Magnetic levitation (Maglev) train
is among the applications that benefits tremendously from this. To warrant
YBa2Cu301-o for the applications, its flux pinning properties and intergranular critical
current density, Jcm have to be improved. This is exactly the focus of this project. To do
so, 2, 5, and 7 mol. % of BaZr03 nanoparticles (< 50 nm) are added into YBa2Cu301-6
respectively, to form a composite superconductor via solid state reaction technique.
BaZr03 is selected for this study because the compound remains inert to reaction with
YBa2Cu301-6 and previous studies found that BaZr03 leads to highest increase in Jcm
Consequently, the Tc is not degraded (around 90 K) and the distribution of the
nanoparticles within the matric of YBa2Cu301-o serves as effective pinning centers
leading to enhancement of flux pinning capability.
