Thermal investigations of reactive powder mixtures as precursors for melt-processing of YBa2Cu3O7−x

DTA and XRD measurements were carried out with reactive precursors taken from the YO1.5-BaO-CuO system in order to investigate mechanisms of YBa2Cu3O7−x formation. The reactions taking place depend strongly on phase composition, phase purity, powder size and heating rate. Among the examined reactive precursors a mixture of 7Y2O3+22BaCuO2+10CuO turned out as the most suited for melt-processing.