Effect of pelletization pressure on texturing of a YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ sample

Abstract

Texturing in YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ pellets has been studied as a function of pelletization pressure applied before final oxygen annealing. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, oxygen estimation, as well as resistivity measurements along and perpendicular to the direction of pelletization pressure have been carried out to investigate this texturing. Such measurements of both the resistivity components for textured samples have not been reported earlier. Our observations are that (1) the texturing progresses through two different mechanisms, viz. grain growth and slip-plane movement, depending on the applied pressure range, and (2) at high enough pressure, the grains break up, inhibiting attempts at higher texturing by still higher pressure.