Enhancement of heat-treatment temperature window and reduction of sintering time of Bi-2223/Ag tapes by continuous cooling sintering

In this work, Bi-2223/Ag tapes were prepared by the continuous cooling sintering (CCS) method. The results indicate that this method can dramatically extend the optimized sintering temperature window as much as 40 degreesC. Moreover, the total sintering time can be greatly reduced. The J(c) of the tapes sintered for total 40 h (including first and second sintering cycles) is similar to those sintering for total 97 h without significant effect on the J(c)-H behavior. The mechanisms of the increase in sintering processing window and the decrease in total sintering time under the CCS process are extensively discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.