PREPARATION OF A HIGH-JC YBCO BULK SUPERCONDUCTOR BY THE PLATINUM DOPED MELT GROWTH METHOD

Recently we have found a highly effective additive for the melt growth processings attaining high critical currents in YBCO superconductor. It is platinum and it behaves as an effective grain growth inhibitor for the Y2BaCuO5 phase. Even with less than 1 wt.% doping, Y2BaCuO5 particles become less than one micron in size and distribute themselves to become homogeneously embedded in the large grown YBa2Cu3Oy grains. The sample shows large magnetic hysteresis and a typical J(c) value estimated by using Bean's model critical state model is 18 000 A/cm2 at 77 K and 1 T. We found that rhodium has a similar remarkable effect.