Oriented crystal growth in Bi(Pb)2223 bulks prepared with magnetic melt processing

A containerless melting-solidification process has been developed for Bi-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O system by using a mixture of Bi(Pb)2212 and CaCuO/sub 2/ as precursors. Almost no solute liquid is spread out from the pellet during the melt processing and Bi(Pb)2212 is reformed after solidification without changing the composition, therefore bulks of high Bi(Pb)2223 content can be formed by a long time sintering. When a magnetic field of 8 T is applied during the melting-solidification process, an obvious texture is introduced in the reformed Bi(Pb)2212. We found that an oriented crystal growth of Bi(Pb)2223 is achieved from the textured Bi(Pb)2212. This indicates that the magnetic melt processing can be applied to obtain texture development in Bi(Pb)2223 bulks by orienting Bi(Pb)2212 grains firstly.