COMPOSITION AND PARTICLE SIZE OF REBa2Cu3O7-x SUPERCONDUCTOR POWDERS SYNTHESYZED BY SOLID STATE REACTIONS

Oratai  Jongprateep; Anyapat  Chansuriya; Sansanee  Rugthaichareoncheep

Authors

Oratai Jongprateep Department of Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan Road, Ladyao Chatuchak, Bangkok, Thailand.
Anyapat Chansuriya Department of Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan Road, Ladyao Chatuchak, Bangkok, Thailand.
Sansanee Rugthaichareoncheep Department of Science Services, Ministry of Science and Technology, Rama VI Road, Ratchathewi, Bangkok, Thailand.

Keywords:

Superconductor, RE123, solid state reaction, powder synthesis

Abstract

REBa2Cu3O7-x (RE: Y and Sm) superconductors have great potential for industrial applications. However, exploitation of the RE123 materials is often hindered by impurities in the RE123 powder. This project aims at studying the composition and particle size of YBa2Cu3O7-x (Y123) and SmBa2Cu3O7-x (Sm123) powders synthesized using the solid state reaction technique. Initial reagents, consisting of nitrates of rare-earth elements, Ba(NO3)2 and Cu(NO3)2*3H2O, were mixed and calcined at 900ºC. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of the calcinedpowders showed the desired chemical compositions, which contain REBa2Cu3O7-x (RE123) and RE2BaCuO5 (RE211). However, a small amount of impurities such as BaCO3 and BaCuO2 remained. The XRD results agreed with the differential thermal analysis results, which indicated that decomposition of BaCO3 occurs at temperatures higher than 900ºC. Scanning electron micrographs revealed that the particles had irregular shapes and were clustered into agglomerates. Average particle sizes were 4.67 μm and 3.54 μm in the Y123 and Sm123 powders, respectively. A wide distribution of these particle sizes was also observed.

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