Direct fabrication of a large grain YBCO bulk superconductor without intermediate grinding step

Large grain YBCO bulk superconductors are fabricated by the top-seeded melt growth (TSMG) or top-seeded infiltration growth (TSIG) method. Both growth methods use at least one of YBa2Cu3O7−δ, Y2BaCuO5, BaCuO3 pre-reacted precursor powders. However, the synthesis of the pre-reacted powders includes multiple calcination runs which are cost-bearing and time-consuming. In this work, we report the successful growth of single-domain YBCO bulk superconductors directly by using the powder compact that has been pressed from the mixture of Y2O3, BaCO3 and CuO powders without any intermediate grinding step. Single-domain YBCO bulk superconductor has been also prepared by using Y2O3, BaO2 and CuO powders without intermediate grinding step. Investigations on the trapped magnetic field and microstructure of the melt-processed specimen show that the elimination of the repeated processes of calcinations and pulverization has hardly affected on the crystal growth and the magnetic properties of the grown YBCO bulk superconductors. However, it is thought that the presence of residual carbon affects on the size of Y211 particles in melt-processed YBCO bulk superconductor.