GROWTH-MECHANISM OF TEXTURED YBA2CU3O7-X SUPERCONDUCTOR PERFORMED BY THE MELT TEXTURE GROWTH

This work deals with the influence of the starting Y-123 grain size on the growth mechanism and final microstructure of the melt-textured YB a2Cu3O7-x ceramics. It is found that the final 211 inclusion size incr eases as the starting 123 grain size increases. However using a small- grained 123 precursor disrupts the growth front and makes the control of grain alignment difficult. An appropriate morphology of the 123 pre cursor should be chosen priori to the MTG process in order to obtain t he best performance.