Superconducting properties of MgB2 bulks using the different sizes of Mg & B raw powders

Among many variables in processing the high performance MgB2 bulk superconductors, simple and important approach is to optimize the size dependence of the Mg & B raw powders. The present study is dedicated towards the variation in superconducting properties of MgB2 depending upon the various combination of Mg & B powders with the two different particle sizes respectively. From morphological investigation of the MgB2 samples, narrow and long pores are observed when the larger Mg powders are used, whereas it is rather like the oval shapes with the smaller Mg powders. Also, it can be seen that the connectivity of the MgB2 samples is much enhanced with the smaller size of the B powders. Jc-H properties of the MgB2 samples also indicate that the highest Jc can be obtained when using the smaller size of the B powder with the combination of the smaller Mg powders than that of the larger Mg powders. If the cases with the larger B powers, it is more favorable to select the larger Mg powders with the better Jc-H properties considering shorter diffusion length of Mg and more homogeneous mixture between the Mg & B powders.