Superconducting transition temperature
Tc, upper critical field
Hc2 and low temperature specific heat have been measured for Laves phase compounds, V
2Hf
xZr
1−x in the V-Hf-Zr ternary system. In this alloy system, the highest
Hc2(4.2 K) of 240 kOe and the highest
Tc of 10.1 K are achieved for the composition of V
2Hf
0.55Zr
0.45 and V
2.3Hf
0.5Zr
0.5, respectively.
Hc2(4.2 K) of this material is higher than that of commercially available high-field superconductor, e.g., Nb
3Sn and V
3Ga. In addition, this material has a relatively small Vickers hardness, from 280 to 470 depending on
x, and is not so mechanically brittle as other high-field superconducting compounds.
Electronic specific heat coefficient γ for V
2Hf and V
2Hf
0.5Zr
0.5 are 21.7 and 28.3 mJ/atg·K
2, respectively. The large γ and spin-orbit scattering effect due to heavy hafnium atoms seem to enhance
Hc2 in this material. Debye temperature θ
D for V
2Hf and V
2Hf
0.5Zr
0.5 are 187 K and 197 K, respectively. These low θ
D might cause relatively low
Tc in this material, withstanding the large electron-phonon coupling. The crystal structure of V
2Hf
xZr
1−x transforms from cubic to orthorombic at a temperature
Tt, ranging from 90 to 160 K. In V
2Hf
xZr
1−x, the lower
Tt, the higher becomes
Tc; the lattice softening associated with the lattice transformation seems to be related with the enhancement of
Tc.
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