Density effect on critical current density and flux pinning properties of polycrystalline SmFeAsO1 − xFx superconductor

A series of polycrystalline SmFeAs1 − xOx bulks was prepared to systematically investigate the influence of sample density on flux pinning properties. Different sample densities were achieved by controlling the pelletizing pressure. The superconducting volume fraction, the critical current densities Jcm and the flux pinning force densities Fp were estimated from the magnetization measurements. Experimental results show that: (1) the superconducting volume fraction increases with the increasing of sample density; (2) the Jcm values have a similar trend except for the sample with very high density due to different connectivity and pinning mechanisms, moreover, the Jcm(B) curve develops a peak effect at approximately the same field at which the high density sample shows a kink; (3) the Fp(B) curve of the high density sample shows a low-field peak and a high-field peak at several temperatures, which can be explained by improved intergranular current, while only one peak can be observed in Fp(B) of the low density samples. Based on the scaling behaviour of flux pinning force densities, the main intragranular pinning is normal point pinning.