An. Iyer et al., Current transport and microstructural development in BSCCO tapes and joints fabricated by groove rolling, SUPERCOND S, 13(2), 2000, pp. 187-194
The powder-in-tube technique, which includes wire drawing and rolling, has
been widely used to fabricate superconducting tapes for possible electric p
ower applications. Ln the present study the starting billet was reduced in
size by groove rolling instead of by wire drawing. To optimize the deformat
ion and thermomechanical treatment processes, BSCCO wires of various dimens
ions were fabricated. The wires were hat rolled to a final thickness of 250
mu m. Short-length tapes were subjected to a series of thermal and deforma
tion steps. Phase development and microstructural development during the pr
ocess were monitored by XRD, SEM and TEM. Current transport properties of t
he tapes were determined in the temperature range of 20-77 K in self-field.
Thermomechanical treatment resulted in tapes with average critical current
densities of 18 000 A cm(-2) at 77 K. High-resolution electron microscopy
revealed better texturing and grain structure at the superconductor-silver
interface. Superconducting lap- and butt-joints have been formed by a chemi
cal etching technique. Detailed microstructural and current transport prope
rties of the joints have also been measured.