${\rm MgB}_{2}$ Superconductors With Addition of Other Diborides and SiC

The discovery of superconductivity at 39 K in MgB
₂
has been catching the attention of scientists due to the possibility of applying the material in magnets and electronic devices operating with cryocoolers (temperatures around 20 K). In the present work, a methodology to optimize the critical current densities of this material is described. MgB
₂
bulk samples were prepared and analyzed with the addition of other diborides with the same C32 hexagonal structure as MgB
₂
(TaB
₂
, ZrB
₂
, VB
₂
, and AlB
₂
) and with simultaneous addition of SiC. Microstructural characterization, performed using SEM+EDS and XRD, was extremely important to determine the distribution and compositional characterization of the superconducting phase. Magnetic superconducting characterization using SQUID was performed to determine the best material addition. As a result we could analyze the behavior of each addition on the current transport capacity, including an analysis of the magnetic flux pinning mechanisms.