Fabricating Ag₂O-stabilized superconductive wires

Fabrication of metal-shielded YBa₂Cu₃O_x superconductive wires provides a possible route to improve the poor mechanical properties and the low critical current densities associated with the ceramic nature of high-T_c superconductive oxide materials. However, results show that wires produced by the powder-in-tube method have low critical current densities and a wide superconducting transition range. A possible reason for these phenomena is the presence of a considerable amount of oxygen-deficient phase in the wire core due to insufficient oxygen diffusion through the metallic shield in the final annealing process. Silver oxide (Ag₂O) was introduced as an in-situ oxygen donor to stabilize the oxygen stoichiometry of the core material. Traditional powder and mechanical metallurgy methods have been used to fabricate these metal-shielded YBa₂Cu₃O_x superconductive wires for bulk electricity applications.