Large shaped parts of melt cast BSCCO for applications in electrical engineering

A melt casting process (MCP) that is tailor made for BSCCO, especially for the 2212 phase, is described. It is reported that melt casting offers an easy access to a variety of different shapes and sizes. The properties of the material obtained by MCP have been significantly improved by admixing strontium sulphate. J/sub c/ values superior to those of sintered ceramics of YBCO or BSCCO have been obtained: J/sub c/ values at 55000 A/cm/sup 2/ (4 K) and 2200 A/cm/sup 2/ (77 K) were achieved without external fields; large bulk parts exhibited more than 2000 A (77 K) in their self-field. The peculiarities of MCP allow the integration of noble metal current contacts which exhibit total resistances>