Oxygen Deficiency in Er1Ba2Cu3Oy Superconductive Ceramics

A quenching experiment was done to investigate oxygen fugacity in Er1Ba2Cu3O y ceramics at high temperatures and to compare the results with those of Y-Ba-Cu-O system. The temperature in question was around 500°C above which the oxygen content became less, depending upon the temperature rise. This critical temperature was almost the same as reported for the Y-Ba-Cu-O system. According to the X-ray diffraction measurements, the crystalline structure departed from the orthorhombic to quasi-tetragonal phase as y decreased. The reduction of y was also accompanied with the degradation in both the superconducting and normal-conducting properties.