Microstructure and Trapped Magnetic Field of Multi-Seeded Single Domain YBCO

The size of the superconducting domains and the critical current density inside these domains have to be enhanced for most of cryomagnetic applications of melt-textured YBCO bulks. To enlarge the size of the domains we studied the multi-seeding technique based on a well-established procedure for preparing high quality YBCO monoliths using self-made SmBCO seeds. The distance between the seeds was optimised as a result of the investigation of the effects of various seed distances on the characteristics of the grain boundary Junctions. The influences of a-b plane intersections and c-axis misalignments were researched. Thereby, a small range of tolerance of the misorientations between the seed crystals was found. Field mapping was applied to control the materials quality and the superconductor's grain structure was investigated using polarisation microscopy. YBCO function elements with iou. seeds in a line and an arrangement of making type (100)/(100) and (110)/(110) boundary junctions, respectively, were processed. The trapped field profile in both sample types shows single domain behaviour. To demonstrate the potential of the multi-seeding method a ring-shaped sample was processed by placing sixteen seeds in a way to make both (100)/(100) and (110)/(110) grain junctions at the same time. The results up to now are very promising to prepare large single domain melt-textured YBCO semi-finished products in complex shapes.