The joining of single domain high temperature superconductors (HTSC)

To enhance the performance of high temperature superconductors in large scale applications, such as magnetic levitation, the size of the bearing must be relatively large. This requires the joining of bulk samples. However, the current densities across the boundaries are considerably lower than the current density through the parent, thus joining techniques are currently being developed to prevent this bottleneck from occurring. One of these joining techniques uses a superconductive 'solder' to form a bond between two pieces of superconductor. Microstructural analysis was made in this initial investigation of the development of superconductive 'solder' and the results obtained are presented.