Bulk superconducting cryo-magnets processed by Spark Plasma Sintering/Texturing
Résumé
We report our progress in the preparation of superconducting bulk materials processed by the unconventional sintering process called Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS). SPS is a promising rapid consolidation method that results in a better control of the sintering kinetics than other techniques. Three main experimental processes will be reported:
- Preparation of intermetallic MgB2 using conventional graphite moulds up to 1000°C at a pressure of 50 MPa under vacuum.
- Preparation of intermetallic MgB2 at high pressure (600MPa) using tungsten carbide moulds (WC) at 800°C under vacuum.
- Preparation of textured lamellar compounds with the Bi2Ca2Sr2CuO8 superconductor using a modified SPS process called “Spark Plasma Texturing” (SPT). During SPT, the bulk material can freely deform itself. As a result, inter-grain preferential crystallographic orientation is favoured.
The obtained bulk materials show 99% relative density. For the MgB2 compounds, a Tc onset of 38 K was obtained. At 20 K and 0 T, the critical current density was measured to be Jc = 5x105 A/cm2, while the trapped field up to 3.9 T has been obtained at the surface of a 20 mm diameter disk .The preliminary results of our new reversible magnetic pulse setup will be discussed. Otherwise, levitation force measurements were carried out as a function of the temperature on MgB2 samples with different shapes. On some samples, the levitation force took the same values from 17 to 32 K, as could be expected from the expression of the magnetic moment of the currents flowing in a superconducting cylinder proposed by E.H. Brandt [1]. Otherwise, the Tc determined from these measurements was equal to 38 K, in good agreement with the result of other techniques. Overall these results suggest that bulk MgB2 superconductors could be a viable variant for magnetic levitation applications.
References
[1] E.H.Brandt, Phys.Rev.58, 6506 (1998)