Growth and orientation of crystallites in Y-Ba-Cu-O superconductors

Abstract
We have studied the orientation of crystallites in samples of the ceramic superconductor YBa2Cu3Ox using x-ray diffraction and optical microscopy. Although none of the special techniques for developing texture in this material were employed in the synthesis of our samples, it appears from our data that there is considerable orientation of the crystallites and that the pattern of orientation extends throughout the sample. The degree of orientation increases in a predictable way with the amount of processing. We describe a mechanism for explaining these observations.