A New Fabrication Process for High-Tc Superconducting Oxide Ceramic Fibers

A new fabrication process for superconducting oxide ceramic fibers, the alginate method, is proposed. This process is based on a gelation of a sodium alginate aqueous solution by sodium ion exchange with protons or multivalent metal ions. Dense Y-Ba-Cu-O superconducting fibers have been successfully fabricated by firing Y-Ba-Cu-alginate fibers at temperatures above 900°C. The fibers have shown a tensile strength of 192 MPa and an end-point critical temperature of 85 K.