Superconducting Properties of Grain-Oriented YBa2Cu3O7-x Ceramics

A critical current density, J c , is an important basic property of superconducting electronic applications. The high- T c superconducting YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7- x (YBCO) ceramics can be given a preferred grain orientation by the hot-forging (H.F.) method, because the ceramics have a large anisotropic crystal structure. We confirmed that the grain-orientation effects on the superconducting properties of the H.F. YBCO ceramics enhance them. The grains in the H.F. ceramics were oriented so that the c -axis was in a forging direction. The grain-orientation factor, F (=0.3∼0.5), could be estimated by X-ray diffraction patterns. The J c [=110 A/cm 2 ] of the grain-oriented (H.F.) sample was elevated to one and a half times [=74 A/cm 2 ] that of the nonoriented sample.