Mechanical properties of bulk YBaCuO superconductor fabricated using the infiltration growth technique

Conventional REBa 2 Cu 3 O y (RE-123) superconducting bulk materials, where RE denotes Yttrium and rare-earth elements, are fabricated using the top-seeded melt-growth (TSMG) technique. However, this method often results in materials with pores that degrade mechanical properties. In contrast, the top-seeded infiltration-growth (TSIG) technique has emerged as a promising alternative, capable of producing RE-123 bulk materials with significantly lower porosity. In this study, tensile tests were performed on specimens cut from Y-123 bulk material fabricated using the TSIG technique to evaluate the mechanical properties. The effects of porosity on these properties were analyzed based on tensile test results and porosity measurements obtained through image analysis. Despite some variation in porosity within the Y-123 bulk material, the overall porosity was notably lower than that of conventional RE-123 bulk materials produced using the TSMG technique. The results demonstrated that tensile strength increases as porosity decreases, highlighting the importance of reducing porosity to improve mechanical performance. Thus, the TSIG technique shows great potential for developing high-performance RE-123 bulk materials.