Analysis of Yttrium-Barium-Copper-Oxide by x ray diffraction and mechanical characterization
The efforts in developing high-temperature superconductor (HTSC) YBa2Cu3O7 electrical leads are to benefit future NASA missions that will carry payloads with sensitive instruments operating at cryogenic temperatures. Present-day leads made of copper or magnesium are responsible for as much as 50 percent of the parasitic heat load on cryogenic systems. A reduction of this load could be achieved by replacing the conventional materials with HTSC ceramic electrical leads. Superconductor quality has become a concern in the industry, as has the development of effective evaluation methods. The factors that need to be examined for these materials include material purity, mechanical properties, and superconducting ability below the critical temperature. We applied several methods to study these factors: thermogravimetric analysis, x-ray diffraction, tensile testing, and laser-generated ultrasound. Our objectives were to determine the average tensile strength and Young's modulus of the HTSC material and to compare them to those values for copper and manganin.