GROWTH OF LARGE-DOMAIN YBA2CU3OX WITH NEW SEEDING CRYSTALS OF CANDALO4 AND SRLAGAO4

Single crystals of CaNdAlO4 and SrLaGaO4 were used as seeds to grow la rge domains of YBa2Cu3Ox for levitation applications. These crystals h ave high melting temperatures (> 1500 degrees C) and similar lattice s tructures to that of YBa2Cu3Ox. In a seeded melt-texturing method deve loped previously, the single crystals of CaNdAlO4, SrLaGaO4, and NdBa2 Cu3Ox were used as seeds for comparison. After melt processing, scanni ng electron microscopy analysis did not reveal any major differences i n all these seeded melt-textured samples. However, the levitation forc es in the samples seeded with single crystals of CaNdAlO4 and SrLaGaO4 increased considerably compared to that of the sample seeded with NdB a2Cu3Ox. A model is proposed to describe the domain growth mechanism d uring seeded melt processing.