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Flux Pinning and Superconducting Properties of Bulk MgB 2 with MgB 4 Addition
Author(s) -
Miryala Muralidhar,
Arvapalli Sai Srikanth,
Diko Pavel,
Jirsa Milos,
Murakami Masato
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced engineering materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1527-2648
pISSN - 1438-1656
DOI - 10.1002/adem.201900750
Subject(s) - materials science , flux pinning , superconductivity , grain boundary , crystallite , condensed matter physics , nanometre , pinning force , sintering , flux (metallurgy) , grain size , argon , critical current , microstructure , metallurgy , composite material , physics , atomic physics
The improved performance of bulk MgB 2 material with added nanometer‐sized MgB 4 particles is presented. Bulk polycrystalline MgB 2 samples with varying amount of MgB 4 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 MgB 4 is added. Density of nano‐grains is inversely proportional to the MgB 4 content. The MgB 2 sample with 1 wt% of MgB 4 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.