Relation between texture and critical current density of textured YBa2Cu3Ox plates

Textured YBa2Cu3Ox plates show a significant spread in the critical current density up to 12.000 A/cm(2) measured by direct transport current at 77K. This spread is related to the crystalline texture of the material. Optical polarization microscopy is used for initial examination of crystal alignmen t and texture, We use synchrotron radiation at 100keV to perform x-ray diff raction measurements to obtain quantitative information about the texture. The crystallographic (110)-direction is found to be preferentially along th e slab and the c-axis is parallel to the largest face. DC-magnetization is used to measure the magnetization critical current density of pieces cut ar ound each x-ray measurement point. The results fi om ii-ray diffraction, op tical microscopy and magnetization critical current density are compared to the transport critical current density. The magnetization critical current is found to decrease exponentially with the in-plane texture.