Proceedings of the National Conference on Cryogenics for Space (NCCS-2019)

December 12-14, 2019, LPSC, Thiruvananthapuram, India.

NCCS-2019-TP 1113

Role of Tungsten Oxide in Enhancing Superconducting and

Mechanical Properties of YBa2Cu3O7-δ
1 1*
Bibekananda Sahoo and Dhrubananda Behera
Department of Physics and Astronomy, National Institute of Technology,
Rourkela-769008, India; Email: dbehera@nitrkl.ac.in

ABSTRACT

The composite sample of (1-x) YBCO / x WO3 are prepared
by solid state reaction route. The crystal structure and phase
purity of the composite samples are studied through XRD
analysis and Rietveld refinement. The superconducting
transition of the composite samples is examined through
transport analysis. The onset critical temperature for pristine
YBCO sample is found to be 91.15 K and the value is
decreased with addition of WO3 nanoparticles. The value
optimum value of critical current density is observed for the
0.4 wt. % WO3 added sample and value is found to be
1619.22 A/cm2 at 77 K. The Vickers microhardness
measurement is performed for study the mechanical analysis.
The value of the elastic parameters are increased with
increasing wt. % of WO3 nanoparticles, as these nanoparticles
reside near the grain boundary and strengthen the weak-links
among the superconducting grains.
Keywords: Critical current density, Vicker’s microhradness,
Superconducting transition temperature
NOMENCLATURE
Symbols
YBCO = YBa2Cu3O7-δ.
WO3 = tungsten oxide
= inversion refinement parameter
TCon = onset transition temperature
TCoff = off-set transition temperature
ρ300K = room temperature resistivity
𝜌0 = Residual resistivity
α = Temperature coefficient of resistivity
Jc = Critical current density
HV = Vicker’s microhardness number
INTRODUCTION
Owing to the attractive physical properties like good flux
trapping ability, high value of critical temperature and
sustainable thermal stability, YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) is an
reinforcing HTSc towards cryogenic application [1, 2]. But the
significant number of inter-granular voids and irregularities
may reduce the applicability of the parent material towards
practical application. Its low critical current density poses a
challenge under external magnetic field as the flux trapping
efficiency is reduced. Hence, various efforts have been made to
enhance the flux trapping ability of the YBCO superconductor;
like the addition of oxide materials, ferromagnetic impurities,
carbon-based compounds and swift heavy ion irradiation [3-5].
The size of APCs developed by the oxide nanoparticles is
nearly of the same order as that of the coherence length of the
YBCO superconducting phase, which restricts the flow of
vertices. Consequently, these additives enhance the
connectivity between the superconducting grains through the
weak-link mechanism and simultaneously provide a
percolative conducting path to the supercurrent throughout the
sample. Apart from the superconducting aspects, the
mechanical strength of the material is highly essential for
applications like magnetic bearing and magnetic shields. As
these nanoparticles occupy the inter-granular spaces between
the superconducting grains, as a consequence no further
dislocation is possible between the superconducting grains [6,
7]. In this manuscript, the variation of structural,
superconducting and microhardness analysis of tungsten oxide
(WO3) added YBCO superconductor have been discussed. The
main aspect of the research work is to improve the better
connectivity between the superconducting grains to enhance
the superconducting parameters.
EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
The suitable proportion of Y2O3 (99.9% purity), BaCO3
(99.9% purity) and CuO (99.9% purity) are taken by a motor
pastel and ground for 2 h.The powder was calcinated at 900° C
for 12 h and similar procedure was repeated twice. The
adiquate wt.% of WO3 (x = 0.0, 0.4 and 1.0) was mixed with
the total mass of the sample under the same condition. All
composite powder was collected separately and pressed into
pellets. Finally, all pellets were sintered at 9500 C followed by
oxygen annealing for 8 hrs at 5000 C in a programmable
tubular furnace. With the help of Rigaku Ultima-IV X-ray
Diffractometer, the structural and phase analysis was carried
out followed by Rietveld refinement. To measure the resistivity
vs. temperature of the composite samples, the standard four-
probe technique was utilized. With the help of Vickers
microhardness tester HM-200A, Vickers microhardness
measurement was carried out.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The X-ray diffraction patterns of GO added YBCO
composite samples are shown in Fig. 1 (a). The peaks
indexed at (013), (103), (005), (200), (206) and (109) are
correlated with the pristine YBCO phase which belongs to
the orthorhombic phase. The highest peak corresponds to 2θ
= 35.240 to confirm the dominance of YBCO
superconducting phase. Fig. 1 (b) displays the Rietveld
refinement pattern of the composite samples. Rietveld
refinement of XRD data establishes that the structure, lattice
parameters and symmetry of the YBCO superconducting
phase are not modified due to the addition of WO3 as it
occupies the intergrannular space [08]. The lattice
parameters, refinement parameters and the inversion
refinement parameter () are tabulated in Table A.1.
increases with increasing wt. % of WO3 nanoparticles in the
composite. This may be ascribed to the enhancement of the
scattering cross-section of the charge carriers, as WO3 resides
near the grain boundary. The residual resistivity strongly
depends on the crystal inhomoginity and crystal defects of
the sample [09]. The value of 𝜌0 gradually increases with
increasing wt. % of WO3 confirms a large number of defects,
disorders, and inhomoginity arises near the grain boundary of
YBCO. The variation of critical temperatures with different
wt. % of WO3 nanoparticles addition is shown in Fig. 2 (b).
The temperature at which sudden drop of resistivity of the
composite sample takes place is known as onset transition
temperature (𝑇𝐶𝑜𝑛 ). Similarly, the temperature at which the
resistivity of the sample almost zero is known as the off-set
𝑜𝑓𝑓
transition temperature (𝑇𝐶 ) [10]. TCoff value of the cuprate
superconductor depends on the confined charge carrier
concentration of the CuO2 planes. As the concentration of
charge carriers decreases with increasing WO3 it confirms the
degradation of TCoff as in table A.2.
Table A.2 shows the values of different superconducting
parameters as obtained from the resistivity versus
temperature measurement of different concentration of WO3
to YBCO sample.

ρ0 ρ300K α
TCon TCoff ΔTc
Sample (Ω- (µΩ- (µΩ-
(K) (K) (K)
cm) cm) cmK-1)

YBCO 91.1 88.4 1056.2 1517.8 1.98 2.7

0.4 wt.
% WO3 90.4 87.6 1302.8 1839.5 2.02 2.8
+YBCO
1.0 wt.
% WO3 89.6 86.1 1456.3 2028.1 2.05 3.5
+YBCO
Fig. 1 (a) displays XRD pattern of all composite samples. (b)
Displays Reitveld refinement pattern of composite samples.

Table A.1: The values of lattice parameters, oxygen content

and refinement parameters of composite samples obtained
from Rietveld refinement analysis.

0.4 wt. % 1.0 wt. %

Sample YBCO
WO3+YBCO WO3+YBCO
a (Å) 3.831 3.833 3.833

b(Å) 3.858 3.855 3.864 Fig. 2 (a) shows the resistivity versus temperature plot of
WO3 (x = 0.0, 0.4 and 1.0 wt. %) added YBCO samples. (b)
c(Å) 11.683 11.683 11.684 Displays the variation of critical temperature (𝑇𝐶𝑜𝑛 and TCoff )
Oxygen with the variation of WO3 added to YBCO sample.
6.68 6.74 6.79
content
The value of Jc is estimated by the criterion of 1µV/cm
 2.06 2.19 2.34
[11]. The irregularities and voids are filled by WO3
nanoparticles, as a consequence weak link between the
Fig. 2 (a) shows the variation of resistivity versus superconducting grains are strengthened and results increase
temperature plots for all composite samples. The sample in critical current density. Fig. 3 (a) shows the variation
exhibits a metallic characteristic above the onset critical current density with different wt. % of WO3 nanoparticles.
temperature (TCon ). The room temperature resistivity (ρ300K)
The maximum value of Jc is found to be 1619.22 A/cm2 for
0.4 wt. % added sample at 77K.
Fig. 3 (a) Shows the variation of critical current density with
the addition of WO3 nanoparticles.
The variation in Vickers microhardness with
different values of applied load (0 to 10 N) is shown in Fig. 4
(a). The values of microhardness (HV) decrease with the
increase of applied load and degradation of HV is more
effective for a small amount of applied load i.e. from 0 to 3
N. After that there is no significant decrease in
microhardness with the applied load, such behaviour is
termed as the indention size effect (ISE). The initial decrease
in microhardness values is attributed to the surface layer
effect but further addition of load innermost layers become
more prevalent; hence saturation in HV takes place. The
Vickers microhardness number is given by
𝐹 wt. % of WO3 indicating that with the addition of WO3 the
HV=1854.4 GPa Eq. (A.1)
𝑑2
The value of HV so calculated using the above formula is
mentioned in Table A.3. The elastic modulus like Elastic
modulus (E) and Yield strength (Y) is obtained using the
following equations [12] and are mentioned in Table A.3.
Fig. 4 (a) displays the variation of microhardness of
the composite samples with application load.
Elastic modulus (E) = (81.9635) Vickers microhardness
(HV) Eq. (A. 2)
Vickers microhardness (𝐻𝑉 )
Yield strength (Y) = Eq. (A. 3)
3
Table A. 3 shows the values of Vickers microhardness (HV),
Elastic modulus (E) and Yield strength (Y) of the composite
samples.
Sample HV (GPa) E (GPa) Y (GPa)
YBCO 1.98 162.28 0.66
0.4 wt. % 2.24 183.59 0.74
WO3+YBCO
1.0 wt. % 2.68 219.66 0.89
WO3+YBCO
The values of elastic parameters increase with
increasing wt. % of WO3; suggest that no dislocation
between the superconducting grains takes place as WO3
occupy the inter-granular space. Hence, the strain inside the
YBCO matrix is gradually decreased with increasing wt. %
of WO3; as a consequence the value of elastic modulus is
increased [13].
CONCLUSIONS
The composite samples (YBCO- WO3) were successfully
synthesized by solid-state reaction route. The X-ray
diffraction pattern confirms that all composite samples
belong to Pmmm space group and the orthorhombic structure
remains unchanged due to the addition of WO3 indicating
WO3 occupies the inter-granular space. The
superconducting parameters are increased with increasing
superconducting volume fraction of the composite sample
increases. The elastic modulus of the composite samples
increases with increasing wt. % of WO3 confirming further
dislocation motion is restricted by WO3, as it occupies the
inter-granular spaces.
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