Recycling of multi-grain, melt processed bulk (RE)BCO superconductors

Recycling is fundamental to the sustainable and economic use of natural resources. Bulk RE-Ba-Cu-O ((RE)BCO, where RE is a rare earth element or Y) can be used for variety of sustainable engineering and power sector applications. However, current costs of production and relatively high process failure rates of up to 30% severely limit the manufacture of these materials for industrial use. It is necessary, therefore, to develop an effective way of recycling failed (RE)BCO bulk samples to reduce both production costs and the consumption of the constituent rare earth elements. Failed, melt processed samples have a different chemical composition to that used initially in the precursor powder and, as a result, are generally scrapped, rather than re-processed. We report a novel method for re-processing failed (RE)BCO samples to restore their chemical composition. Failed bulk samples recycled using this process exhibit superconducting properties that are comparable to those of single-grain samples fabricated by conventional top seeded melt growth.