Effect of sorbic acid doping on flux pinning in bulk MgB2 with the percolation model

In this paper, we study the doping effect of sorbic acid (C6H8O2), from 0 to 20 wt.% of the total MgB2, on critical temperature (Tc), critical current density (Jc), irreversibility field (Hirr) and crystalline structure. The XRD patterns of samples show a slightly decrease in a-axis lattice parameter for doped samples, due to the partial substitution of carbon at boron site. On the other hand, we investigate the influence of doping on the behavior of flux pinning and Jc(B) in the framework of percolation theory and it is found that the Jc(B) behavior could be well fitted in high field region. The two key parameters, anisotropy and percolation threshold, play very important roles. It is believed that the enhancement of Jc is due to the reduction of anisotropy in high field region.