Effects of ZnO addition on mechanical properties of Bi1.84Pb0.34Sr1.91Ca2.03Cu3.06O10 prepared by a wet technique

In this study, ZnO molar wt% 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, and 50 added Bi1.84Pb0.34Sr1.91Ca2.03Cu3.06O10 superconductors were prepared by wet technique. The experimental works consist of powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) for phase analyses and c-axes parameters, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for microstructure examination, and microhardness measurements for mechanical properties. These measurements showed that Zn-added material, in comparison with the pure sample, had increased c-axes parameters and decreased grain size. In addition, the experimental results of microhardness measurements were analyzed using Oliver-Pharr model. It was observed that the change of indentation hardness (HIT) and reduced elastic modulus (Er) values showed an increasing trend with ZnO addition and exhibited peak load dependence (i.e., indentation size effect (ISE)).