Method for fabricating high-jc thallium-based superconducting tape

Abstract

A process for fabricating Thallium-based superconducting tapes comprising the steps of: (1) preparing a powder mixture having a nominal composition of (Tl.sub.1-x-y Bi.sub.y Pb.sub.z)(Ba.sub.2-z Sr.sub.z)Ca.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.9 ; (2) placing the powder mixture into a silver tube and drawing and/or swaging the silver tube containing the powder mixture into a wire having a pre-determined diameter, wherein x and y are real numbers between 0.2 and 0.4, and z is a real number between 0 and 2; (3) rolling the wire into a tape having a pre-determined thickness; and (4) subjecting the tape to a two-stage single-sintering process at two respective sintering temperatures. The two-stage single-sintering process of the present invention allows Thallium-based superconducting tapes to be fabricated which exhibit substantially increased critical current density, without causing a substantially increased cost and complexity, as do other prior art processes, such as the double-sintering process.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.