Processing condition for the development of cube texture in Ni and Ni alloy tapes fabricated by powder metallurgy process

Bi-axially textured Ni, Ni–W (1, 3 and 5 at.%) and Ni–Cu alloy tapes for YBCO coated conductors were fabricated by powder metallurgy process including powder compaction, cold isostatic pressing, cold rolling and recrystallization heat treatment. The rod-like Ni and Ni alloy compacts were sintered at 1100 °C for 6 h in 96% Ar–4% H 2 atmosphere. The sintered Ni and Ni–W rods were successfully cold-rolled into thin tapes of 80–100 μm thickness with 5% reduction at each path, but the Ni–Cu alloy rods with Cu content less than 20 at.% were made into tapes. The Ni and Ni alloy tapes were heat-treated at 800–1200 °C for the development of cube texture. The good (2 0 0) texture was obtained for both Ni and Ni–W alloy tapes, while it was obtained only for the Ni–Cu tapes with low Cu contents. The W and Cu addition to Ni improved the mechanical properties by solid solution hardening. Critical current density ( J c) of YBCO film deposited on the CeO 2/YSZ/CeO 2(CYC)/Ni template was 0.25 MA/cm 2 at 77 K and self-field.