Texture development in BPSCCO superconductors

After the discovery of bismuth-based superconductors, many attempts were made to develop high-density, sintered Bi-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O (BPSCCO) ceramics having high current density (J{sub c}). Small coherence length, grain-boundary weak links and anisotropy of the high-critical-temperature (T{sub c}) cuprate grains of these superconductors caused lower J{sub c} values, even in epitaxially grown thin films. This report relates to an integrated approach for obtaining oriented microstructure in BPSCCO superconductor by combining two processing steps: viscous pressing (presintering process, PSP) and zone-melting refining (postsintering treatments, PST).