Processing and Jc considerations in high temperature superconductors

This paper outlines the critical current density limitations of oxide superconductors processed by ceramic methods. It is also argued that the Aurivillius phases (Bi and Tl based superconductors) are more limited by flux creep and flux flow considerations and the thus Ba2YCu3O7 compound shows the most promise for bulk processing. Several processing methods for optimizing Jc are reviewed. These include: metal clad wire, press forgoing, tape processing, melt textured growth and metal melt oxidation. Interestingly, many of these are methods more akin to metal processing than ceramic processing. Of these processing methods, melt textured growth and metal melt oxidation are shown to offer particular promise to yielding high Jc