CUBE-TEXTURED NICKEL SUBSTRATES FOR HIGH-TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTORS

The biaxial textures created in metals by rolling and annealing make t hem useful substrates for the growth of long lengths of biaxially text ured material. The growth of overlayers such as high-temperature super conductors requires flat substrates with a single, sharp texture. A sh arp cube texture is produced in high-purity Ni by rolling and annealin g. We report the effect of rolling reduction and annealing conditions on the sharpness of the cube texture, the incidence of other orientati ons, the grain size and the surface topography. A combination of high reduction and high-temperature annealing in a reducing atmosphere lead s to > 99% cube texture, with a mosaic of 9.0 degrees about the rollin g direction, 6.5 degrees about the transverse direction, and 5.0 degre es about the normal direction.