GRAIN-ORIENTATION AND CRITICAL CURRENT OF TAPE-CASTED AND HOT-FORGED SUPERCONDUCTING BI(PB)-SR-CA-CU-O CERAMICS

A preferred grain orientation of high-Tc superconducting Bi(Pb)-Sr-Ca-Cu-O ceramics with a large anisotropic crystal structure can be given by the tape-casting (TC) and hot-forging (HF) (TC+HF) method. The grain in the TC+HF samples were oriented perpendicular to the c-axis, which lies in a forging direction. The grain orientation factor, F, was estimated by the X-ray diffraction patterns, for example, F = 0.9. The critical current density, Jc[ab] (= 840A/cm2) of the ab-plane was elevated 14 times as large as the Jc[OF] of the unoriented (OF) samples by the TC+HF method.