Transport Critical Current Density and Flux Pinning Enhancement in Nano-Sized PbO and HfO2 Added (Bi1.6Pb0.4)Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 Superconductor

A comparative study on the effect of PbO (10-30 nm) and HfO2 (60-80 nm) additions on the superconducting properties of (Bi1.6Pb0.4)Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 ((Bi,Pb)-2223) superconductor in the bulk form was carried out. The structure and the microstructure of prepared samples were examined by powder XRD and SEM, respectively. The transition temperature Tc and critical current density Jc was determined by standard dc four-probe method. SEM micrographs showed a homogeneous distribution of Pb and Hf in the samples. It was observed that PbO and HfO2 additions enhanced Jc for all added samples. Jc was the highest for x= 0.05 wt. % of PbO (1130 mA/cm2 at 77 K and 1930 mA/cm2 at 30 K) and HfO2 (900 mA/cm2 at 77 K and 1760 mA/cm2 at 30 K) addition. This study showed that the addition of PbO and HfO2 nanopowder provided extra flux pinning centers in the (Bi, Pb)-2223. PbO with smaller particle size showed higher Jc compared with HfO2 which has a larger particle size.