MICROWAVE HEATING FOR PROCESSING CERAMIC HIGH TC SUPERCONDUCTORS

THE PHASE I EFFORT HAS SUCCESSFULLY DEMONSTRATED THAT COMBINING SOL-GEL CHEMISTRY WITH MICROWAVE HEATING CAN RESULT IN THE FABRICATION OF A CERAMIC HIGH TC SUPERCONDUCTOR (HTS) IN ABOUT AN HOUR. SOL-GEL PROCESSING RESULTED IN UNIFORM MICRON-SIZED PRECURSOR POWDERS WITH THE DESIRED STOCHIOMETRY. THIS POWDER WAS SUBSEQUENTLY HEATED FOR 70 MINUTES UNDER SPECIFIC CONDITIONS IN A MODIFIED MICROWAVE OVEN THEREBY PRODUCING A BLACK CERAMIC PRODUCT. THE PRODUCT EXHIBITED A STRONG MEISSNER EFFECT IN LIQUID NITROGEN AND EDS AND BACK-SCATTERED ELECTRON ANALYSIS OF THE SURFACE OF THE PRODUCT REVEALED UNIFORM COMPOSITION WITH AN EMPIRICAL FORMULA OF YBAE2CUE3OE7. THIS RESULT REPRESENTS THE FASTEST SUCCESSFUL FABRICATION OF A HTS MATERIAL TO DATE AND HOLDS PROMISE FOR LOWER THE COST AND IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF HTS MATERIALS SUCH AS HIGH JC WIRE.