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List of Publications by Department for the Academic Year Effect of nano-scale oxides addition on the physical properties of high temperature superconductors.

Abstract

Superconducting samples of type Bi1.8Pb0.4Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+δ added with nano-Ag, nano-ZnO and nano-Fe2O3, respectively, were prepared by a solid-state reaction technique. The concentrations of nano-materials were 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 1.0 and 1.5 wt. % of the sample total mass. The prepared samples were characterized using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for phase analysis and microstructure examination. The elemental stoichiometric of the prepared samples was determined using energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE). The Oxygen-content of these samples was obtained using non Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) at 3 MeV proton beam. XRD analysis indicated that (Bi, Pb)-2223 maintained its tetragonal structure even after different nano-materials addition. The volume fraction results indicated that nano-materials addition reduced the formation rate of the (Bi,Pb)-2223 phase and increased other secondary phases such (Bi,Pb)-2212 and 3321 phases. EDX showed the existence of nano-materials in spite of their absence in the X-ray pattern, indicating that they did not enter (Bi, Pb)-2223 structure but just occupied interstitial places among its grains. PIXE results showed elemental contents very close to the starting values. Moreover, RBS results indicated that the addition of nano-scale Ag and ZnO did not change the O-content of (Bi,Pb)-2223 phase while the addition of nano- Fe2O3 reduced the oxygen mass percentage from 15.16% into14.88%. . The electrical resistivity of the prepared samples was measured by the conventional four-probe technique in temperature range from room temperature down to the zero superconducting transition temperature T0. The electrical resistivity measurements indicated that Tc for nano-Ag added samples increased from 110 to 112.8 K as x varied from 0.0 to 1.5 wt. %. The increase of Tc was assigned to the improvement of weak links through grains. The variation of Tc for nano-ZnO and nano- Fe2O3 added samples showed a slight decreasing with x, with a retardation rate of 6.4% and 22.5 %, respectively. The results of electrical resistivity, above Tc, are discussed according to the excess conductivity model, showing the existence of four different regions, namely critical (cr), three-dimensional (3D), two-dimensional (2D) and short-wave (sw) regions. The zero-temperature coherence length, the effective layer thickness of the two dimensional system and the inter-layer coupling strength are estimated as a function of the substitution-content x. Furthermore, the thermodynamics critical field, lower critical magnetic field, upper critical magnetic field, critical current density and Fermi energy are calculated with the aid of Ginzburg number. . The transport critical current density was measured by four- probe technique at 77 K. It was found that the critical current density increased from 460 A/cm2 for the pure sample and reaches maximum values of 1014A/cm2, 805A/cm2 and 480A/cm2 with 0.6 wt.% nano-Ag, 0.4wt.% nano-ZnO and 0.2 wt. % nano- Fe2O3, respectively.

Author(s)

Raafat Ibrahim Mawassi

Coauthor(s)

Prof. Ramadan Awad, Prof. Ibrahim Hassan Ibrahim, Prof. Mohamad Romie’, Prof. Mahmoud kork