Highly reproducible high critical current density in partial-melt Bi2Sr2CaCu2Oy/Ag tapes fabricated by electrophoretic deposition

Highly c-axis-oriented Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O y /Ag tapes with high critical current density (J c ) were prepared by electrophoretic deposition followed by partial-melt processing. Slow cooling at 0.2 degrees C min -1 from the partial-melt temperature and a subsequent prolonged annealing at 825-830 degrees C resulted in an almost phase-pure highly textured microstructure in the samples fabricated from partly reacted precursor powder. The transport J c can be improved to 1.7*10 4 A cm -2 at 77 K, and, at 4.2 K, 3.0*10 5 A cm -2 (I c =470 A for a 6 mm wide sample) and 1.3*10 5 A cm -2 with zero and 15 T applied magnetic induction, respectively. Values of J c were reproducible to within 10% for samples that experienced the same heat treatment and were of similar thickness.