15 MeV proton irradiation effects on Bi-based high temperature superconductors

Nowadays, superconducting magnetic coils are used in some tokamaks such as EAST, KSTAR, JT-60, and T-15 to generate strong magnetic fields and also in ITER magnetic fields of about 13 tesla will be produced with the help of superconductors. The tokamak superconductors are exposed to the variety of radiations (neutron, ions beam, and gamma) from plasma nuclear reactions which will affect some of the superconductor properties. Therefore, study of the irradiation effects on the superconductor structure and properties are very crucial from technological and scientific point of view. One of the superconductor irradiation effects to be investigated under different conditions of energy and dosage is the potential resistance of the material used in tokamak reactor magnetic coils against activation by radiation. In this work, pellets of high T Bi-based superconductors have been prepared and after measurement of parameters, a sample of pellet has been irradiated with 15 MeV protons using Karaj cyclotron facility. The sample's parameters have been measured again after irradiation treatment. X-ray diffraction patterns and SEM images of the sample before and after irradiation treatment have been studied.