The grain-alignment and its effect on the levitation force of melt processed YBCO single-domained bulk superconductors

Well textured single-domained YBCO bulk superconductors with differential grain-alignment have been fabricated. The effect of grain-alignment on the levitation force has been investigated at liquid nitrogen temperature. It is found that the levitation force values are highly anisotropic depending on the field direction, the levitation force with H‖ c-axis is about three times higher than that with H⊥ c-axis; so we have to take account of this anisotropy in the practical applications. The relation shape between a magnet and a superconductor can be well described with a double exponential function. All the results are discussed in detail.