Study on the effect of Titanium Oxide (Ti02) additions on YBCO superconductor by solid state reaction

The goal for this research were to synthesize YBCO superconductor and determine the effect of TiO2 additions at x = 0, 1, 2, 5 and 10 wt. % on the properties of YBCO. The YBCO composites was prepared by conventional method which is the solid state reaction with calcination process at 900°C and sintering process at 930°C followed by 8 h annealing process at 500°C. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). From the XRD pattern revealed that the crystallite size, intensity of compound and related parameter of compound in YBCO/ TiO2 composites was determined. The orthorhombic structure of YBCO was confirmed and the addition of TiO2 does not destroy the structure of YBCO system. The intensity peak and broadening peak was increased with the increasing the amount of Ti02. The elemental analysis was done by XRF and EDX and the concentration of the element presence in the samples were analyzed. The microstructural analysis is performed using SEM and it clearly seen from the result that the grain size was reduced with increasing amount of Ti02. The addition of TiO2 in the YBCO superconductor does not give significant effect at the structure of YBCO but the superconducting properties of YBCO was improved.