Chemical analysis of superconductor material by Rietveld method

Among the main superconducting systems, the system Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O is extremely important because it presents two stages of high superconducting critical temperature. To manufacture samples of the superconducting phase (Bi, Pb)2Sr2Ca2Cu3Ox (Bi-2223) were used oxides and carbonates of high purity. The mixture was calcined and sintered for 100-200h in air. To characterize the material we used X-ray diffraction, SEM / EDS and measurement of critical temperature (Tc). The Rietveld method was used for structure refinement, and quantification of phases and to estimate the chemical composition of samples in order to obtain greater control of chemical composition using only the data of X-ray diffraction. The results were compared with the refinement results of X-ray fluorescence and was observed a discrepancy of about 8%. This result indicates that the Rietveld method can be an interesting alternative to perform chemical analysis. (author)