Analysis of the spatial distribution of Y2BaCuO5 inclusions in large-grain YBa2Cu3O7-δ

High values of critical current density, J(c), in large-grain superconducting melt-processed YBa2Cu3O7-delta (YBCO, Y-123) have been reported to correlate closely with the distribution of Y2BaCuO5 (Y-211) particles in the Y-123 phase matrix. Extensive image analysis of the homogeneity of the Y-211 particle distribution in a large-grain sample has been performed on high-resolution, secondary scanning electron micrographs of seeded melt-processed YBCO. The variation of key parameters, such as area fraction, number density and size along the a/b axis of the Y-123 grain has been investigated in detail as a function of distance from the centre of the seed. Both area fraction and number density of Y-211 particles are observed to increase continuously with distance, whereas the mean and standard deviation of the size distribution decrease slightly towards the grain boundary. This suggests that the increase in area fraction can be attributed to an increase in number density of the Y-211 particle distribution along the a/b axis of the specimen. The implications for Y-211 particle pushing, ripening and coalescence are discussed in the light of these results. (C) 1998 Chapman & Hall.