High critical current density of MgB2 bulk superconductor doped with Ti and sintered at ambient pressure

Abstract

Ti-doped MgB2 superconductors with different doping levels were prepared by solid-state reaction at ambient pressure. The density, diamagnetic signal, and Jc of the samples change significantly with the doping level, with the best result achieved at cursive chi = 0.1. At 5 K, the Jc reaches 2 x 106 A/cm2 in the self-field and 5 x 104 A/cm2 in 5 T. At 20 K, the Jc is still as high as 1.3 x 106 A/cm2 in the self-field and 9.4 x 104 A/cm2 in 2 T. It is observed that partial melting occurs in the Ti-doped samples, resulting in an excellent grain connection and extremely high density. In addition, some fine particles (with sizes from 10 to 100 nm) of the second phases induced by Ti doping are distributed in the MgB2 matrix, and this may play an important role in flux pinning enhancement.