E. Asikuzun

The effect of Pr addition on superconducting and mechanical properties of Bi-2212 superconductors

In this work, the effects of Pr doping on the superconducting, structural and mechanical properties of the samples are analyzed. Pr doped Bi-2212 superconductors are obtained using solid state reaction method. Dc resistivity measurements are made to investigate the superconducting properties, microhardness measurements are made to analyze the mechanical properties, XRD and SEM measurements are done for crystal structure determination and calculation of the lattice parameters. Using EDS measurements, the change in the elemental composition with doping is analyzed. The Vickers microhardness is calculated for undoped and doped samples. The experimental results of the microhardness measurements are analyzed using Kick’s Law, PSR (proportional specimen resistance), modified PRS (MPSR) and Hays–Kendall (HK) approach. The microhardness values of the samples decrease with Pr addition. The results can be successfully explained by HK approach.

Mechanical, microstructural and magnetic properties of the bulk BSCCO superconductor prepared by two different methods

BSCCO bulk samples have been prepared by solid-state reaction and ammonium nitrate precipitation methods with Bi1.65Pb0.35Sr2Ca2Cu3O10±y stoichiometry. Structural, mechanical and magnetic characterizations of the samples were performed by the X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Microhardness measurements, AC susceptibility measurements. The XRD patterns showed that the diffraction peaks for our samples belong to the two main phase, namely 2223 and 2212 of the BSCCO. In this study we have focused on microhardness measurements to investigate the mechanical properties. Vickers microhardness, Young’s modulus and yield strength values were calculated separately for all samples. In addition to these, we calculated the load independent hardness values of samples. Experimental results of hardness measurements were analyzed using the Meyer’s law, proportional sample resistance (PSR) model, Elastic–Plastic deformation model (EPD) and indentation induced cracking (IIC) model. The critical transition temperature, phase purity, lattice parameter, surface morphology and crystallinity of the prepared bulk samples were compared with each other.