An investigation into texturing of high-Tc superconducting ceramics by creep-sintering

The possibility of preparing highly textured samples of YBa2Cu3O7-x high-Tc ceramics by creep-sintering under an uniaxial stress was investigated in detail. It is shown that the quality of the texture is sharply dependant on: the applied load, the temperature of the sintering dwell, the rate at which this dwell is reached, the exact instant at which the load is applied and the nature of the material in contact with the sample. It is also shown that further annealing without applied stress enhances the texture and considerably increases the grain size. Deformation, which was systematically recorded, occurs within a few minutes after the load is applied and exhibits a stress dependance typical of a viscous flow. Systematic examination by polarized light microscopy has indicated that the texture was homogeneous throughout the whole thickness of all the prepared samples. The resistivity versus temperature curves show that the transition is very sharp and well above 77 K