Influences of Crystalline Anisotropy, Doping, Porosity, and Connectivity on the Critical Current Densities of Superconducting Magnesium Diboride Bulks, Wires, and Thin Films

Magnesium diboride (MgB2) is a material with a superconducting transition temperature of 39 K. Discovered in 2001, the relatively large coherence length (and associated lack of weak links) together with its simple binary composition (making phase pure formation relatively easy) have made it a material of substantial interest. However, it has been difficult to assess in detail the relative importance of the roles of flux pinning, crystalline anisotropy, porosity, connectivity, doping, and doping homogeneity on the observed transport limitations of this conductor. This work focused on deconvoluting the most dominant of these effects.;First, the overall effects of electrical connectivity and crystalline anisotropy of critical current density (Jc) were investigated. In doing so the Jcs of dense, well-connected c-axis oriented films were compared with the relatively degraded Jcs of standard powder-in-tube MgB2 wires. With the aid of a percolation model it was deduced that at 4.2 K, 10 T. about 60% of the degradation was due to MgB2’s crystalline anisotropy and the remaining 40% to porosity.;Second, chemical substitutions onto both the Mg and B sites were investigated in terms of effects on structure and superconducting properties. The homogeneity of C-substitution onto the B site was quantified in terms of the width of the superconducting specific heat transition. Analysis of the results led to optimization of methods for homogeneous doping of C into the B sublattice. Zr substituted onto the Mg sublattice was investigated using samples prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Changes in magnetic, resistive, superconductive, chemical, and structural properties were studied over a wide range of Zr composition.