Abstract
The effect of Ca-doping on the superconducting properties of Nd-Ba-Cu-O bulk superconductors, fabricated by the oxygen-controlled melt growth process, has been systematically investigated. Various c-axis textured bulk samples were grown using precursors with the nominal compositions of N $d_{1.8-x}$C $a_{x}$B $a_{2.4}$C $u_{3.4}$ $O_{y}$ (x = 0.00, 0.02, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15) in a reduced oxygen atmosphere of 1% $O_2$ in Ar. Magnetization measurements revealed that the critical temperatures( $T_{c}$) were almost linearly depressed from 95K to 86K with increasing the Ca dopant from x = 0.0 to 0.15, respectively, and thus critical current densities( $J_{c}$) at 77K and for H//c-axis of specimens were gradually degraded with increasing x. Compositional analyses revealed that although the amounts of the Ca dopant both in NdB $a_2$C $u_3$ $O_{y}$(Nd123) and N $d_4$B $a_2$C $u_2$ $O_{10}$(Nd422) were increased with increasing x, only less than half of the initial Ca compositions were detected in melt-grown Ca-doped Nd-Ba-Cu-O bulk crystals. The supression of $T_{c}$ is attributed to an increased Nd substitution for the Ba site in the Nd123 superconducting matrix with increasing the amount of the Ca dopant.t.opant.t.t.t.t.t.