Influence of Artificially Macroscopical Drilling on the Crystal Growth Orientation of Single Domain SmBCO Bulk Superconductor

A large drilled single domain SmBa2Cu3O7−δ (SmBCO) bulk superconductor with a diameter of 32 mm and different hole sizes was successfully fabricated using the modified top-seeded infiltration and growth (TSIG) process. The morphology, superconducting properties, and grain boundary orientation growth of the drilled SmBCO samples were investigated. It was found that not only are the properties of the drilled sample equivalent to those of normal SmBCO bulk superconductors, but also the NdBCO seed crystal can be well controlled because of the increase in the specific surface area in the solid phase pellet. In addition, the growth orientation along the tangent direction of the holes was first noticed in the drilled single domain SmBCO bulk superconductor. This conclusion is highly important for the accurate control of the growth temperature of high temperature bulk superconductors.