Mechanical, microstructural and magnetic properties of the bulk BSCCO superconductor prepared by two different methods

BSCCO bulk samples have been prepared by solid-state reaction and ammonium nitrate precipitation methods with Bi1.65Pb0.35Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 +/- y stoichiometry. Structural, mechanical and magnetic characterizations of the samples were performed by the X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Microhardness measurements, AC susceptibility measurements. The XRD patterns showed that the diffraction peaks for our samples belong to the two main phase, namely 2223 and 2212 of the BSCCO. In this study we have focused on microhardness measurements to investigate the mechanical properties. Vickers microhardness, Young's modulus and yield strength values were calculated separately for all samples. In addition to these, we calculated the load independent hardness values of samples. Experimental results of hardness measurements were analyzed using the Meyer's law, proportional sample resistance (PSR) model, Elastic-Plastic deformation model (EPD) and indentation induced cracking (IIC) model. The critical transition temperature, phase purity, lattice parameter, surface morphology and crystallinity of the prepared bulk samples were compared with each other.