National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

The relaxation of the irreversible magnetization of MgB2 bulk samples obtained by electric-field assisted sintering was investigated using the SQUID magnetometry for a magnetic field H up to 50 kOe applied in zero-field-cooling conditions. We observed a crossover plastic creep at high temperatures T-elastic creep at low T, described by H alpha T-2 in the low T range, which appears to be caused by the macroscopic currents induced in the sample during magnetization measurements. By decreasing T below this line the determined creep exponent rapidly overcomes the widely accepted theoretical values for elastic (collective) pinning. This behaviour can easily be explained through the occurrence of micro flux jumps, leading to a finite magnetization relaxation rate in the low-T limit. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Well-compacted MgB2 specimens with the density higher than 90 % of the theoretical value were obtained by electric-field assisted sintering. This method assures a good grain connectivity, which leads to the appearance of efficient pinning centres at the grain boundaries. We measured the DC magnetization curves and the relaxation of the irreversible magnetization using the SQUID magnetometry for a magnetic field H up to 50 kOe applied in zero-field-cooling conditions. The critical current density is of the order of 1010 A/m(2) at H = 20 kOe and T = 10 K. A crossover plastic creep at high temperatures T - elastic creep at low T described by H proportional to T-2 in the low T - high H domain was observed. This is caused by the macroscopic currents induced in the sample during magnetization measurements. By decreasing T below this line the determined creep exponent rapidly overcomes the widely accepted theoretical values for elastic (collective) pinning. This behaviour can be explained through the occurrence of micro flux jumps, which seem to be responsible for the finite magnetization relaxation rate in the low-T limit. The relaxation of the irreversible magnetization allowed us the precise determination of the characteristic pinning energy barrier.

It is shown that x-ray microtomography (XRT) is a powerful technique to observe on extended volumes the morphology, alignment and local bulk density in MgB2 tapes, thin films and especially bulk specimens. For the bulk samples obtained from mechanically milled powders for different conditions, several types of the 3D microstructural patterns were observed. These significant differences between the samples were not revealed by SEM. Microtomography can be a useful additional technique to characterize the samples and to obtain unique information, e. g. on local bulk density, but it cannot replace the existing methods: advantages and limitations are discussed. It is concluded that the method is promising and further developments are expected to be helpful for a better understanding of the complex processing-microstructure-properties relationship in the MgB2 superconductor.

Bulks and tapes of MgB2 with 5 wt.% SiC were prepared from Mg, B and SiC. Mixing of the raw powders was performed in Ar atmosphere by high energy milling using a planetary mill. Number of balls (10 or 20), size (10 mm or 7 mm, respectively), rotation speed (200 rpm or 400 rpm) and milling time (up to 3 h) were varied. Powders were compared through XRD and SEM. From the as-prepared powders, bulk and tape samples were prepared and investigated by magnetic (SQUID) and transport (four-probe method) measurements. Results suggest that through variation of the milling conditions such as rotation speed, size and number of balls it is possible to control the value of the critical current density, J(c) and the slope of the J(c)(B) curve, For different heat treatment conditions milling with 400 rpm and using 20 balls of 7 mm always resulted in lower J(c)(B) than for the tapes or bulks produced from hand-milled mixture. Use of 10 balls of 10 mm keeping all the other conditions constant changed the slope of the J(c)(B) curve possibly improving J(c) above a crossover at 4 T. Mild milling with a rotation speed of 200 rpm (20 balls x 7 mm) resulted in enhancement of J(c) in the entire investigated region B <= 14 T, but the slope was steeper than for the best sample produced from the hand-milled mixture and a crossover is likely to occur for B > 14 T leading to lower J(c)-values. The best samples had at 4.2 K J(c) = 3.6 x 10(-2) A center dot cm(-2) at 14 T and J(c) = 5 x 10(3) A center dot cm(-2) at 10 T.

We investigated that in HgBa2Can-1CunO2n+2+delta, [Hg-1 2(n-1)n], for n >= 6, T-c of about 105 K, vortex melting lines remains constant and independent of number of inner plane CuO2 layers. However the vortex dynamics of the supermultilayer system could be crucially different from that of single or double layer cuprates. Therefore we measured the fundamental and third harmonic AC susceptibility responses to see the vortex dynamics and vortex matter phase diagram of Hg-12(n-1)n (n= 14), the higher member of super-multilayered cuprate superconductors. The Lindemann type vortex melting line was estimated using onset of third harmonic susceptibility (chi 3), at very low h(AC) (50 mOe), and represented by 3D Ginzburg Landau rescaling. Frequency dependence of out of phase susceptibility chi"(T) measured at lower fields of 500 and 1000 Oe. for 10 Hz to 10 kHz, showed resonance behaviour in the temperature region 55-68 K, suggesting rotational and translational creep dynamics of vortex molecule, even below usual melting line. We present schematic vortex phase diagram, considering the response of vortex dynamics to applied AC frequencies, taking into account the crossover temperatures obtained from critical slowing down of spin glass model and extended thermal activated model. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A recent report on multilayered superconductors establishes unique constant T-c although the number of inner CuO2 plane (IP) increases. Many hypotheses proposed that the irreversibility field (B-irr) and critical current density (J(c)) are depends on the crystal structures. We have measured the J(c) and B-irr of the HgBa2Can-1CunO2n+2+delta sample containing n = 6-15 phases to investigate the effect of the number of IP's on the B-irr and J(c) and its pinning properties. The rate of fall of J(c) increases and irreversible lines (IL's) shift to lower temperatures with increasing the number of IP's, which suggests that anisotropy increases with n. The IL settled in between those for Bi2Sr2CaCu2Oy with high anisotropy value and YBa2Cu3O7 with less anisotropy value. The double logarithmic plot of irreversibility field versus [1 - (T/T-c)] analysis suggests that the flux line melting model is adopted. The flux pinning force density F-p (approximate to J(c)B) exhibits scaling behavior when the magnetic field B is normalized by the irreversibility field B;- Analysis of the normalized pinning force reveals that a surface pinning mechanism is dominant and reduced magnetic field b(max) = 0.2 agree with surface pinning mechanism with closely spaced pins. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effects of heating-induced crystallization on the structural and mechanical properties of Mg-Ni-Fe amorphous ribbons were studied by anelastic spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction. DSC results show that the crystallization occurs through several non-reversible steps, which correspond to significant changes in the Young's modulus and concomitant irreversible elastic energy loss peaks. Moreover, an anelastic peak is found at 215 K, which for the first time indicates the presence of some dynamical process related to the simultaneous presence of different phases. The formation of a metastable Mg(6)Ni phase is detected, which transforms into Mg and Mg(2)Ni stable phases. A quantitative analysis of the different phases present at the different steps was also carried out. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We have measured the vortex melting lines of high-pressure-synthesized Ba2Ca3Cu4O8(O1-yFy)(2) (nominal composition, 2y = 1.3, 1.6 and 2.0) F(2y)-0234 multilayered high-T-c superconductor using fundamental and third harmonic susceptibility responses carried out on preferentially oriented crystallites with very low ac field amplitude (5 mu T) and in applied dc fields up to 6 T. The vortex melting lines of all three F-substituted samples show interesting doping dependence and are very well described by the commonly accepted theory of melting lines. Interestingly, we discovered that the models describing the temperature dependence of the in-plane London penetration depth also depend on the doping level: the 3D XY model for the nearly-optimum-doped sample [F(1.3)], the mean-field theory for the under-doped sample [F(1.6)] and the two-fluid model for the heavily-under-doped sample [F(2.0)]. We found that the vortex melting lines in F-0234 are determined by the interplay in the coupling of pancake vortices through the charge reservoir layer (CRL), and through the block of inner CuO2 planes (IPs), respectively. The anisotropy values (47 for the near-optimally-doped sample) derived from experimental vortex melting lines are consistent with the values obtained by first-principles electronic-band-structure calculations.

Fe3O4 colloids modified by the chiral ligand cinchonidine were prepared with the goal of obtaining a magnetic and catalytic nano-material and were subsequently embedded in silica to form a heterogeneous catalyst. The systems were characterized by TEM and XRD measurements, while the Mossbauer technique was applied for measuring the magnetic properties of the Fe3O4 colloids. The hyperfine magnetic field distribution was consistent with one type of Fe oxide, namely, the magnetite (Fe304). These colloids, both as 'quasi-homogenous catalysts' (or soluble heterogeneous catalysts) and embedded in silica (heterogeneous catalysts) were employed in the selective hydrogenolysis of complex bicyclo[2.2.2]oct-7-enes (bicyclo[2.2.2]oct-2-enes when unsubstituted). (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.

The Abrikosov lattice in the multilayer cuprate superconductor CuBa2Ca3Cu3Oy (Cu-1223) has been experimentally and theoretically demonstrated to be composed of vortex molecules. Cu-1223 is considered to be a typical multicomponent superconductor. We show that in such a system the rotational freedom around the axis of the vortex molecular tube generates orientational disorder and the orientational glass (or crystal) phase, which is never present in conventional vortex lattices consisting of axisymmetric vortices. The emergence of the orientational glass phase and orientational order phase with orthorhombic distortion is a general property of vortex molecule lattices of the multiband type of multicomponent superconductors.