Impact of gamma and electron irradiations on superconducting properties of Bi1.6Pb0.4Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 (Bi-2223) superconductor

In several studies on the impact of radiation towards superconductor, there were evidences that changes may occur in superconducting properties due to alteration in lattice structure of HTS materials. In this work, the solid-state reaction method was employed in preparing the bulk samples of Bi1.6 Pb0.4Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 (hereafter Bi-2223) superconductor. The samples were then irradiated with gamma and electron sources with dosage of 100 kGray each. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) patterns were used to determine the phases that present in the samples. Results of XRD patterns for both the non-irradiated and irradiated samples showed well-defined peaks all of which could be indexed based on the Bi-2223 phase structure. Besides, the XRD patterns indicate that gamma and electron irradiations did not affect the Bi-2223 superconducting phase structure. Measurements of the critical temperature, TC and the critical current density, JC of all the samples were conducted before and after irradiation using AC susceptibility technique. TC for non-irradiated, electron irradiated and gamma irradiated sample is 97 K, 95 K and 103 K, respectively. On the other hand the JC for non-irradiated, electron irradiated and gamma irradiated sample is 1618 A/cm2 1729 A/cm2 and 1549 A/cm2 respectively. Results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs show improvement in the grain growth and disorientation in the texture of all the gamma and electron irradiated samples.