• Progress in Superconductivity
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.17-22
• /
• 2008

We have examined the effect of ball-milling on the superconducting properties of $MgB_2$ doped with C. The ball-milling of pre-reacted $MgB_2$ powder was carried out in dry or wet state using C or diethylenetriamine ($C_{4}H_{13}N_3$) as additives. The diethylenetriamine, whose chemical formula contains no oxygen, was chosen to avoid an excess oxidation during doping. The superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of the ball-milled or doped $MgB_2$ powders was only slightly smaller than that of undoped $MgB_2$. The critical current density (Jc) of the highly ball-milled $MgB_2$ was higher than that of C-doped $MgB_2$. The addition of diethylenetriamine was detrimental to Jc, although Tc was almost unchanged.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.12-15
• /
• 2013

The pure and carbon (C)-doped $MgB_2$ thin films were fabricated on $Al_2O_3$ (0001) substrates at a temperature of $650^{\circ}C$ by using hot-filament-assisted hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition technique. The $T_c$ value for pure $MgB_2$ film is 38.5 K, while it is between 30 and 35 K for carbon-doped $MgB_2$ films. Expansion in c-axis lattice parameter was observed with increase in carbon doping concentration which is in contrast to carbon-doped $MgB_2$ single crystals. Significant enhancement in the critical current density was obtained for C-doped $MgB_2$ films as compared to the undoped $MgB_2$ film. This enhancement is most probably due to the incorporation of C into $MgB_2$ and the high density of grain boundaries, both help in the pinning of vortices and result in improved superconducting performance.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.40-43
• /
• 2017

Carbon coating approach is used to prepare carbon-doped $MgB_2$ bulk samples using low-cost naphthalene ($C_{10}H_8$) as a carbon source. The coating of carbon (C) on boron (B) powders was achieved by direct pyrolysis of naphthalene at $120^{\circ}C$ and then the C-coated B powders were mixed well with appropriate amount of Mg by solid state reaction method. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that there is a noticeable shift in (100) and (110) Bragg reflections towards higher angles, while no shift was observed in (002) reflections for $MgB_2$ doped with carbon. As compared to un-doped $MgB_2$, a systematic enhancement in $J_c(H)$ properties with increasing carbon doping level was observed for naphthalene-derived C-doped $MgB_2$ samples. The substantial enhancement in $J_c$ is most likely due to the incorporation of C into $MgB_2$ lattice and the reduction in crystallite size, as evidenced by the increase in the FWHM values for doped samples.

• Progress in Superconductivity
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.79-86
• /
• 2009

We successfully fabricated C-doped ex-situ $MgB_2$ wires using two different methods such as mechanical alloying(MA) and combined process(CP) of in-situ and ex-situ. In the MA, the precursor powder was prepared with a mixture of $MgB_2$ and 1 at% C powders by planetary ball milling for 0-100 h. In the CP, on the other hand, C-doped $MgB_2$ powder was prepared with Mg, B, and C powders by in-situ process via compaction, sintering, and crushing. The powders prepared by two methods were loaded into Fe tube and then the assemblages were drawn by a conventional powder-in-tube technique. The MA treatment of C-added $MgB_2$ decreased the particles/grains size and resulted in C-doping into $MgB_2$ after sintering, improving the critical current density($J_c$) in high external magnetic field. For the C-doped $MgB_2$ wire by MA for 25 h, the $J_c$ was $4.1{\times}10^3A/cm^2$ at 5 K and 6.4 T, which was 5.9 times higher than that of pure and untreated $MgB_2$ wire. The CP also provided C-doping into $MgB_2$ and improved the $J_c$ in high magnetic field; the C-doped $MgB_2$ wire fabricated by CP exhibited a $J_c$ being 2.3 times higher than that of the ex-situ wire used commercial $MgB_2$ powder at 5 K and 6.0 T($2.7{\times}10^3A/cm^2\;vs.\;1.2{\times}10^3A/cm^2$).

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.55-58
• /
• 2022

Carbon-based doping to MgB₂ superconductor is the simplest approach to enhance the critical current densities under magnetic fields. Carbon quantum dots is synthesized in this work as a carbon provider to MgB₂ superconductors. Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone is pyrolyzed and dispersed in dimethylfomamide solvent as a dopant to the mixture of Mg and B powders. Doped MgB₂ bulk samples clearly show the decrease of a-axis lattice constant, grain refinements, and broadening of FWHM of diffraction peaks compared to un-doped MgB₂ possibly due to the carbon substitution and/or boron vacancy at the boron site in MgB₂ lattice. Also, high-field J_c for the doped MgB₂ is enhanced significantly with the crossover about 3 T at 5 & 20 K when increasing the doping of carbon quantum dots.

• Progress in Superconductivity
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.1-5
• /
• 2010

In this work we synthesized both MgB2 and Carbon doped MgB2 superconductor with Ag addition via high energy milling and substituent heat treatment. Heat treatments were performed at $900\;^{\circ}C$ for 30 min in flowing Ar gas. We varied amount of Ag powder. In a range of Ag powder was 0~5wt%. The effect of Ag was correlated with superconducting properties. The results show a slight decrease in critical temperature ($T_c$) and a reduction of critical current density ($J_c$) at high fields for the Ag-doped samples as compared to the un-doped samples. Reduction of $J_c$ may be due to the formation of MgAg compound.

• Progress in Superconductivity
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.36-40
• /
• 2010

We have studied the anisotropy of the London penetration depth of carbon doped $MgB_2$ single crystals, which was obtained from reversible magnetization measurements with the magnetic field both parallel and perpendicular to the c-axis. Similar to the pure $MgB_2$, the anisotropy of the upper critical field ${\gamma}_H$ decrease with temperature while the anisotropy of the London penetration depth ${\gamma}_{\lambda}$ slowly increases with temperature. However, the temperature dependence of ${\gamma}_H$ is drastically reduced and the value of ${\gamma}_{\lambda}$ becomes nearly ~1 as C is introduced. These results indicate that C substitution increases impurity scattering mainly in the $\sigma$ bands. The temperature dependence of the anisotropies agree well with the theoretical predictions with impurity scattering.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.9-13
• /
• 2014

Effects of neutron irradiation on the superconducting properties of the undoped $MgB_2$ and the carbon(C)-doped $MgB_2$ bulk superconductors, prepared by an in situ reaction process using Mg and B powder, were investigated. The prepared $MgB_2$ samples were neutron-irradiated at the neutron fluence of $10^{16}-10^{18}n/cm^2$ in a Hanaro nuclear reactor of KAERI involving both fast and thermal neutron. The magnetic moment-temperature (M-T) and magnetization-magnetic field (M-H) curves before/after irradiation were obtained using magnetic property measurement system (MPMS). The superconducting critical temperature ($T_c$) and transition width were estimated from the M-T curves and critical current density ($J_c$) was estimated from the M-H curves using a Bean's critical model. The $T_cs$ of the undoped $MgB_2$ and C-doped $MgB_2$ before irradiation were 36.9-37.0 K and 36.6-36.8 K, respectively. The $T_cs$ decreased to 33.2 K and 31.6 K, respectively after irradiation at neutron fluence of $7.16{\times}10^{17}n/cm^2$, and decreased to 22.6 K and 24.0 K, respectively, at $3.13{\times}10^{18}n/cm^2$. The $J_c$ cross-over was observed at the high magnetic field of 5.2 T for the undoped $MgB_2$ irradiated at $7.16{\times}10^{17}n/cm^2$. The $T_c$ and $J_c$ variation after the neutron irradiation at various neutron fluences were explained in terms of the defect formation in the superconducting matrix by neutron irradiation.

• Progress in Superconductivity
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.87-91
• /
• 2010

We fabricated the polyacrylic acid (PAA)-doped $MgB_2$ bulks and characterized their lattice parameters, actual C substitutions, microstructures, and critical properties. The boron (B) powder was mixed with PAA using N,N-dimethylformamide as solvent and then the solution was dried out at $200^{\circ}C$ and crushed. The C treated B powder and magnesium powder were mixed and compacted by uniaxial pressing at 500 MPa, followed by sintering at $900^{\circ}C$ for 1 h in high purity Ar atmosphere. We observed that the PAA doping increased the MgO amount but decreased the grain size, a-axis lattice constant, and critical temperature ($T_c$), which is indicative of the C substitution for B sites in $MgB_2$. In addition, the critical current density ($J_c$) at high magnetic field was significantly improved with increasing PAA addition: at 5 K and 6.6 T, the $J_c$ of 7 wt% PAA-doped sample was $6.39\;{\times}\;10^3\;A/cm^2$ which was approximately 6-fold higher than that of the pure sample ($1.04\;{\times}\;10^3\;A/cm^2$). This improvement was probably due to the C substitution and the refinement of grain size by PAA doping, suggesting that PAA is an effective dopant in improving $J_c$(B) performance of $MgB_2$.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.1-5
• /
• 2016

Field and temperature dependence of the critical current density, Jc, were measured for both un-doped and carbon doped $MgB_2/Nb/Monel$ wires manufactured by Hyper Tech Research, Inc. In particular, carbon incorporation into the $MgB_2$ structure using malic acid additive and a chemical solution method can be advantageous because of the highly uniform mixing between the carbon and boron powders. At 4.2 K and 10 T, Jc was estimated to be $25,000-25,300Acm^{-2}$ for the wire sintered at $600^{\circ}C$ for 4 hours. The irreversibility field, $B_{irr}$, of the malic acid doped wire was approximately 21.0 - 21.8 T, as obtained from a linear extrapolation of the J-B characteristic. Interestingly enough, the Jc of the malic acid doped sample exceeds $10^5Acm^{-2}$ at 6 T and 4.2 K, which is comparable to that of commercial Nb-Ti wires.