Biaxially textured Ni-alloy tapes as substrates for buffer and YBCO film growth

Impurities in Ni processed by cold rolling and annealing for the purpose of producing a cube textured substrate for YBCO film deposition (RABiTS) ofte n evoke secondary recrystallisation that destroys the cube texture at a tem perature below the deposition temperature of the buffer. By adding small am ounts of a second element the secondary recrystallisation can be suppressed and very strong cube textures with a FWHM below 10 degrees and less than 1 % highly misoriented grains are achieved. The suitability of such substrate s is proved by superconducting films with a critical current density exceed ing 0.5 x 10(6) A/cm(2). The disadvantages of ferromagnetism and the low te nsile strength of Ni as substrate material have been overcome by alloying w ith 13 at.% Cr or 9 at.% V. The yield strength of these well textured non-m agnetic substrates is almost three times higher than that of Ni tapes. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.