Role of Zr on growth kinetics and microstructural evolution of the superconductor V₃Ga by the bronze technique

Abstract

The influence of Zr on the growth of V₃Ga is studied by a diffusion-couple technique mimicking the bronze method for superconductor production. Systematic quantitative evaluation on critical-current-density-dependent metallurgical parameters is addressed. A mixture of V₃Ga and Zr-containing phases develops at the interdiffusion zone. Smaller grains on Zr addition cause higher growth kinetics owing to grain-boundary diffusion of Ga. The grains are oriented randomly irrespective of Zr addition. Refined microstructure, second-phase, and higher growth kinetics suggest a beneficial role of Zr for the better functioning of the superconductor.

Keywords:

• Intermetallics
• grain-boundary diffusion
• microstructure
• texture
• low-temperature superconductors
• V₃Ga

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Professor I. Samajdar for providing access to the National facility for Texture and Microtexture at IIT, Bombay and to P. Biswas for helping with EBSD scans. We acknowledge the financial support from SERB, India.