Flux Pinning and Superconducting Properties of Bulk MgB2 with MgB4 Addition

The improved performance of bulk MgB2 material with added nanometer‐sized MgB4 particles is presented. Bulk polycrystalline MgB2 samples with varying amount of MgB4 x (x = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10 wt%) are fabricated by solid‐state sintering at 775 °C for 3 h in pure argon gas. Microstructural studi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Advanced engineering materials 2020-03, Vol.22 (3), p.n/a
Main Authors: Miryala, Muralidhar, Arvapalli, Sai Srikanth, Diko, Pavel, Jirsa, Milos, Murakami, Masato
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
flux pinning
grain refinement
improved Jc
MgB2
MgB4
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Summary:The improved performance of bulk MgB2 material with added nanometer‐sized MgB4 particles is presented. Bulk polycrystalline MgB2 samples with varying amount of MgB4 x (x = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10 wt%) are fabricated by solid‐state sintering at 775 °C for 3 h in pure argon gas. Microstructural studies indicate formation of nanometer‐sized grains when MgB4 is added. Density of nano‐grains is inversely proportional to the MgB4 content. The MgB2 sample with 1 wt% of MgB4 shows the best performance, with its self‐field critical current density reaching 385 and 315 kAcm−2 at 15 and 20 K, respectively. Flux pinning diagrams reveal the domination of grain boundary pinning mechanism. An industrially viable and effective method is developed to produce good‐quality and improved flux pinning in sintered bulk MgB2 materials by adding a small quantity of nanometer‐sized MgB4. The critical current density is improved by about 30% because of refined microstructure formation upon addition of 1 wt% MgB4. It has a big potential for future industrial applications.
ISSN:1438-1656
1527-2648
DOI:10.1002/adem.201900750