Superconducting yttrium-barium-copper-oxide ribbons fabricated from a metal alloy precursor

Abstract
We report a new process for making superconducting Y-Ba-Cu-oxide ribbon from a ductile metal alloy precursor ribbon. We begin by melt-spinnng an alloy having the composition YCu3 to obtain the microcrystalline precursor ribbon. The ribbon is coated with a molten mixture of Ba inorganic compounds at 550 °C, and reacted in air at 925 °C to form the superconducting YBa2Cu3O7−x phase. The superconducting onset occurs at 92 K and zero resistance is reached at 89 K. X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and magnetization measurements confirm that the ribbon is predominantly superconducting YBa2Cu3O7−x.