The effect of Al2O3 and MgO addition on the superconducting properties of Bi, Pb-2223.

In this study, we investigate the effect of Al2O3 and MgO addition on the critical temperature of the (Bi, Pb)2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+ (Bi, Pb)-2223 superconductors. The (Bi, Pb)-2223/ Al2O3 and (Bi, Pb)-2223/MgO composite were synthesized using a sol-gel method. BPSCCO with nominal composition was sintered at 840°C for 60 hours Phase investigation and Morphology observation were carried out by using an X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), respectively. Critical onset temperature (Tc-onset), and critical offset temperature (Tc-offset) used the four-point probe technique. SEM image showed that the BPSCCO superconductor's morphological characteristics seem to dominate the microstructure for all samples. The best result was found in the (Bi, Pb)-2223 with addition 1% MgO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]