Highly c-axis orientated superconducting core and large critical current density in Ba0.6Na0.4Fe2As2 powder-in-tube tape

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 1 - 7
• Main Authors: Imai, S., Itou, S., Ishida, S., Tsuchiya, Y., Iyo, A., Eisaki, H., Matsuzaki, K., Nishio, T., Yoshida, Y.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 10.09.2019; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/301/119/1003; 639/766/119/1003; Fabrication; Humanities and Social Sciences; Magnetic fields; multidisciplinary; Powder; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Wire; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-49363-y

Improvement of the critical current density ( J c ) of superconducting wires/tapes is one of the key issues in the field of superconductivity applications. Here we report the fabrication of a silver-sheathed Ba 1− x Na x Fe 2 As 2 (BaNa-122) superconducting tape by using a powder-in-tube technique and its superconducting properties, in particular transport J c , as well as the tape-core texture. The optimally-doped BaNa-122 tape with Na concentration x  = 0.4 exhibits the superconducting critical temperature ( T c ) of 33.7 K and high transport J c of 4 × 10 4  A/cm 2 at 4.2 K in a magnetic field of 4 T. Patterns of x-ray diffraction for the superconducting core show that the degree of c -axis orientation is significantly enhanced through the tape fabrication process. The tendency of c -axis orientation is advantageous for achieving higher J c , suggesting the high potential of BaNa-122 for superconducting wire/tape applications.