EFFECTS OF COMPOSITION AND TEMPERATURE ON REBCO SINGLE CRYSTALS GROWN BY FLUX METHOD

The flux method is the most popular technique to obtain high quality and large side single crystals of YBa 2 Cu 3 O x (YBCO) and REBa 2 Cu 3 O x (REBCO). It is known that, for the YBCO, the interval of temperature for growing single crystals is between about 1010°C and 930°C, whereas, for the REBCO phases, the maximal temperature changes as function of rare earth. In this work, we studied the effect of different thermal programs on the side the YBCO crystals. The initial temperature and the cooling rate were changed. We studied the influence of a different initial ratio between Nd and Ba and between Sm and Ba on the equilibrium composition in NdBCO and SmBCO crystals.