HIGH-PRESSURE OXYGENATION OF MT-YBCO: THE WAY TO REDUCE THE OXYGENATION TIME, TO PREVENT MACROCRACKING, AND TO OBTAIN MATERIALS WITH HIGH CRITICAL CURRENTS.

The oxygenation of MT-YBCO under isostatic oxygen pressure (up to 16 MPa) at 900-800 °C allowed reduced process time, lower macrocracking, and reduced microcracks. Additionally higher critical currents, trapped fields and mechanical characteristics can be attained. At 77 K thin-walled MT-YBCO had a j_c in the ab plane of 85 kA/cm² at 0 T and higher than 10 kA/cm² in fields up to 5 T and the irreversibility field was 9.8 T. In the c-direction j_c was 34 kA/cm² in 0 T and higher than 2.5 kA/cm² in a 10 T field. At 4.9 N-load the micohardness, H_v, was 8.7±0.3 GPa in the ab-plane and 7.6±0.3 GPa in the c-direction. The fracture toughness, K_1C, was 2.5±0.1 MPa·m^0.5 (ab-plane) and 2.8±0.24 MPa·m^0.5 (c-direction). The samples with a higher twin density demonstrated a higher j_c, especially in applied magnetic field. The twin density correlates with the sizes and distribution of Y211 grains in Y123. The thin-walled ceramics that demonstrated the highest j_c contained about 22 twins in 1 μm and were practically free from dislocations and stacking faults. The maximal trapped field of the block of thin-walled ceramic oxygenated at 900-800 °C and 16 MPa was doubled as compared to that oxygenated at low temperature under ambient pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]