Recycling technology of imperfectly grown YBCO crystals using nitric acid

The aim of this work is to design technology for recycling imperfectly grown superconducting ceramic discs of mixed copper oxides based on YBCO by dissolving in strong acid, reprecipitation and subsequent calcination of individual fractions. Unsuccessfully grown yttrium-containing crystals will first be ground and converted to a homogeneous powder. The powder is dissolved in nitric acid with an emphasis on optimizing the reaction parameters (concentration, temperature, reactant ratios) to recycle imperfectly grown crystals. In this work, the main aim is to isolate the individual components, including rare earths, and to design a procedure for the use of these materials for the preparation of new superconducting discs, which will then be investigated for mechanical and superconducting properties. YBCO discs, as well as individual fractions, will be analyzed in detail using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), thermogravimetry (TG), laser diffraction (LD) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD).