Fabrication and Superconducting Properties of YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ Bulk Materials with Barium Cerate as Pinning Centers

Abstract

We investigated the effect of BaCeO₃ addition on the superconducting properties of melt-textured YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ (Y123) bulk materials. Bulk superconductors with various compositions of Y123 + xBaCeO₃ (x = 0.05-0.5) were fabricated by melt-processing in air. BaCeO₃ particles of 1-2 μm in diameter were dispersed in the Y123 matrix phase. The addition of a small amount of Pt was effective for improving the T_c and J_c values. The J_c in the low field region increased as the amount of BaCeO₃ for the sample was increased with x = 0.05-0.4. This indicates that BaCeO₃ can function as effective artificial pinning center like Y₂BaCuO₅ particles in conventional melt-textured Y-Ba-Cu-O bulk materials.