Thesis (M.Eng.)--University of Wollongong, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 104-108.

Orientador: Carlos Roberto Grandini / Banca: Paulo Noronha Lisboa Filho / Banca: Durval Rodrigues Júnior / Resumo: A descoberta da supercondutividade no MgB2 (diaboreto de magnésio) foi de grande importância para a comunidade de Física do Estado Sólido, pois este material é um dos poucos compostos intermetálicos binários conhecidos atualmente com uma das maiores temperaturas críticas (39 K) para um não óxido e não pertencente à família dos compostos baseados em C60. Por ser um composto granular, é de fundamental importância a compreensão de mecanismos de interação de defeitos e a rede cristalina do material, além de eventuais processos envolvendo os contornos dos grãos que compõem o material. Neste sentido, as medidas de especgroscopia mecânica constituem uma ferramenta bastante poderosa para este estudo, pois por intermédio delas podemos obter importantes informações a respeito de transições e de fase e do comportamento de elementos intersticiais, substitucionais, discordâncias, contornos de grãos, difusão, instabilidades e outras imperfeições da rede. Estudos anelásticos em amostras de MgB2 são bastante escassos, porém, trabalhos recentes em magnésio puro e ligas especiais a base de magnésio mostram a ocorrência de diversos processos de relaxação associados à discordâncias, contornos de grãos e interações entre elementos intersticiais e outras imperfeições da rede. Neste trabalho, as amostras foram preparadas pelo método powder-in-tube (PIT) e forma caracterizadas por medidas de densidade, difração de raios X, microscopia eletrônica de varredura, espectrometria por dispersão de energia, resistividade elétrica e magnetização. As medidas de espectroscopia mecânica mostraram espectros bastante complexos, onde foram identificados oito processos de relaxação devido a movimentos de discordâncias, interação entre elementos intersticiais e discordâncias, auto-difusão e movimento de contornos de grãos. / Abstract: The discovery of the superconductivity in the MgB2 (magnesium diaboride) was of great importance for the community of the solid state physics, therefore this material is one of few binary intermetallic composites known currently with the one of the biggest critical temperatures (39 K) for a non-oxide and not pertainig to C60 composites based family. Due its granular composition, it is of great importance the understanding of mechanisms of interaction of defects and the crystalline lattice of the material, beyond eventual processes involving the grains boundaries that compose the material. In this sense, the mechanical spectroscopy measurements constitute a powerful tool for this study, therefore by them we can get important information regarding phase transitions and the behavior of intersistial or substitutional elements, dislocations, grain boundaries, diffusion, instabilities and other imperfections of the lattice. Anelastic studies in MgB2 samples are very poor, but, recent researches made in pure magnesium and magnesium based alloys shown the occurrence of several relaxation processes associated to dislocations, grain boundaries and interaction of interstitial elements and another lattice imperfections. In this research, the samples were prepared by powder-in-tube (PIT) method and were characterized by density, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy diepersive x-ray spectroscopy, electrical resistivity and magnetization measurements. The mechanical spectroscopy measurements shown sufficiently complex spectra, where identified eight relaxation processes due to the dislocation motion, interaction between interstitials elements and dislocations, self-diffusion and grain boundaries motion / Mestre

Orientador: Paulo Noronha Lisboa Filho / Banca: Carlos Roberto Grandini / Banca: Rubens de Andrade Júnior / O Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência e Tecnologia de Materiais, PosMat, tem caráter institucional e integra as atividades de pesquisa em materiais de diversos campi da Unesp / Resumo: O presente trabalho teve como objetivo estudar as propriedades magnéticas e de transporte elétrico de filmes finos de MG"BIND.2', de espessura, rescidos pelo método de Pulsed Laser Deposition, diante de variações de conformidade microestrutural. Para efeito de comparação, foram utilizados filmes finos com 100 e 400nm de espessura crescidos pelo método Chemical Vapor Deposition. O trabalho foi possível graças ao desenvolvimento de um sistema de fixação de amostras que mostrou ser eficaz nos casos onde a deposição de terminais com epóxi prata inutiliza as amostras para estudos posteriores devido à contaminação. Foram realizados ensaios de magneto-transporte, magnetização e susceptibilidade magnética utilizando o Physical Property Measurement System (PPMS). Os resultados de magneto-transporte foram modelados matematicamente por meio do modelo de Bloch-Grüneisen, mediante o uso do software Mathematica. A análise dos resultados mostrou que diferenças microestruturais conduzem a um comportamento de resistividade no estado normal diferenciado. A possível existência de uma microestrutura diferenciada, onde há dificuldade em se definir um contorno de grão, e praticamente a inexistência de material intragranular, podem ser a chave para o entendimento de medidas de transporte elétrico e magnéticas tão singulares, onde não há evidências de comportamento inter e intragranular, como ocorre geralmente nos supercondutores cerâmicos. Por último, o modelamento da resistividade permitiu validar todo o sistema de medidas utilizado, pois os resultados obtidos estão em acordo com a literatura. / Abstract: In this work it was studied magnetic and electrical transport properties of MG"B IND.2' thin films, with 200nm of thick, grown by the method of Pulsed Laser Deposition, in front of microstructure variation. For comparison, were also analyzed thin films with 100 and 400nm of thickness grown by Chemical Vapor Deposition method. This study was possible since the development of sample fixing system that showed be effective in the cases that the terminals depositions with silver epoxy make samples useless for the future studies due to contamination. Magnetic-transport, magnetization and magnetic susceptibility were performed using the Physical Property Measurement System (PPMS). The results of magnetictransport measurements were modeled by the Bloch-Grüneisen model through the Mathematica Software. Analysis of the results showed that microstructural differences of the samples make different the value of resistivity in the normal state. Possible existence of the different microstructural where have difficult to define the grain boundary and absent of intergranular material, factors that can the key for the understanding of electrical transport and magnectic measurements how individuals, where no have evidences of inter and intragranular behavior, how exist in the ceramic superconductors. At last, the resistivity model permitted validates all the measurement system utilized, because the results obtained are in agreement with the literature. / Mestre

Au Yeung Yue Fung. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text in English; abstracts in English and Chinese. / Au Yeung Yue Fung. / Abstract --- p.i / 論文摘要 --- p.ii / Acknowledgements --- p.iii / Table of Contents --- p.iv / List of Figures --- p.vi / List of Tables --- p.viii / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- Genesis --- p.1-1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Aims and Objectives --- p.1-2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Layout of thesis --- p.1-3 / References --- p.1-4 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Literature review / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction to superconductor --- p.2-1 / Chapter 2.2 --- MgB2 --- p.2-3 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Significance of MgB2 --- p.2-3 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Structure and properties of MgB2 --- p.2-4 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Superconducting mechanism of MgB2 --- p.2-5 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Physical properties of boron and boride --- p.2-7 / Chapter 2.2.5 --- Physical properties of magnesium --- p.2-7 / Chapter 2.2.6 --- Formation of MgB2 --- p.2-8 / Chapter 2.2.7 --- MgB2 thin films --- p.2-9 / Chapter 2.2.7.1 --- Substrate --- p.2-11 / Chapter 2.2.7.2 --- Substrate temperature --- p.2-12 / Chapter 2.3 --- Contradictions as revealed by existing literatures --- p.2-13 / References --- p.2-14 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Preparation and characterization of bulk MgB2 / Chapter 3.1 --- Bulk MgB2 fabrication / Chapter 3.2 --- Measurement and analysis techniques of bulk MgB2 --- p.3-4 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- XRD --- p.3-4 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Meissner effect measurement --- p.3-5 / Chapter 3.3 --- Sintering time of MgB2 --- p.3-6 / Chapter 3.4 --- Concentration of Mg in sintering MgB2 --- p.3-8 / Chapter 3.5 --- Sintering temperature of MgB2 --- p.3-11 / Chapter 3.6 --- Thermal stability of MgB2 --- p.3-13 / Chapter 3.7 --- MgB2 in water --- p.3-17 / References --- p.3-19 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Preparation and characterization of MgB2thin films / Chapter 4.1 --- Thin film deposition --- p.4-1 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Facing-target sputtering (FTS) --- p.4-2 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Vacuum system --- p.4-4 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- Asymmetric bipolar pulsed DC power source --- p.4-6 / Chapter 4.2 --- Fabrication of MgB2 targets --- p.4-10 / Chapter 4.3 --- Substrates --- p.4-11 / Chapter 4.4 --- Deposition procedure --- p.4-12 / Chapter 4.5 --- Deposition condition --- p.4-13 / Chapter 4.5.1 --- Deposition power --- p.4-15 / Chapter 4.5.2 --- Deposition pressure --- p.4-13 / Chapter 4.5.3 --- Annealing temperature --- p.4-18 / Chapter 4.5.4 --- Substrate temperature --- p.4-21 / Chapter 4.5.5 --- Conclusion --- p.4-26 / References --- p.4-29 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Failed attempts of MgB2 films fabrication by in situ method / Chapter 5.1 --- In-situ method --- p.5-1 / Chapter 5.2 --- Additional FTS guns with Mg target --- p.5-2 / Chapter 5.3 --- Diode sputtering --- p.5-4 / Chapter 5.4 --- Co-evaporating fabrication --- p.5-6 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Conclusion --- p.6-1

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf [162]-180.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:23:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-05-20Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:09:41Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 murad_or_me_bauru.pdf: 1607364 bytes, checksum: a13c081e60319e997b56935fa0771793 (MD5) / O presente trabalho teve como objetivo estudar as propriedades magnéticas e de transporte elétrico de filmes finos de MGBIND.2', de espessura, rescidos pelo método de Pulsed Laser Deposition, diante de variações de conformidade microestrutural. Para efeito de comparação, foram utilizados filmes finos com 100 e 400nm de espessura crescidos pelo método Chemical Vapor Deposition. O trabalho foi possível graças ao desenvolvimento de um sistema de fixação de amostras que mostrou ser eficaz nos casos onde a deposição de terminais com epóxi prata inutiliza as amostras para estudos posteriores devido à contaminação. Foram realizados ensaios de magneto-transporte, magnetização e susceptibilidade magnética utilizando o Physical Property Measurement System (PPMS). Os resultados de magneto-transporte foram modelados matematicamente por meio do modelo de Bloch-Grüneisen, mediante o uso do software Mathematica. A análise dos resultados mostrou que diferenças microestruturais conduzem a um comportamento de resistividade no estado normal diferenciado. A possível existência de uma microestrutura diferenciada, onde há dificuldade em se definir um contorno de grão, e praticamente a inexistência de material intragranular, podem ser a chave para o entendimento de medidas de transporte elétrico e magnéticas tão singulares, onde não há evidências de comportamento inter e intragranular, como ocorre geralmente nos supercondutores cerâmicos. Por último, o modelamento da resistividade permitiu validar todo o sistema de medidas utilizado, pois os resultados obtidos estão em acordo com a literatura. / In this work it was studied magnetic and electrical transport properties of MGB IND.2' thin films, with 200nm of thick, grown by the method of Pulsed Laser Deposition, in front of microstructure variation. For comparison, were also analyzed thin films with 100 and 400nm of thickness grown by Chemical Vapor Deposition method. This study was possible since the development of sample fixing system that showed be effective in the cases that the terminals depositions with silver epoxy make samples useless for the future studies due to contamination. Magnetic-transport, magnetization and magnetic susceptibility were performed using the Physical Property Measurement System (PPMS). The results of magnetictransport measurements were modeled by the Bloch-Grüneisen model through the Mathematica Software. Analysis of the results showed that microstructural differences of the samples make different the value of resistivity in the normal state. Possible existence of the different microstructural where have difficult to define the grain boundary and absent of intergranular material, factors that can the key for the understanding of electrical transport and magnectic measurements how individuals, where no have evidences of inter and intragranular behavior, how exist in the ceramic superconductors. At last, the resistivity model permitted validates all the measurement system utilized, because the results obtained are in agreement with the literature.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:23:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-08-10Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:50:08Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_mr_me_bauru_prot.pdf: 5425736 bytes, checksum: c0025dd94306d704e10c08b2a6628b66 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / A descoberta da supercondutividade no MgB2 (diaboreto de magnésio) foi de grande importância para a comunidade de Física do Estado Sólido, pois este material é um dos poucos compostos intermetálicos binários conhecidos atualmente com uma das maiores temperaturas críticas (39 K) para um não óxido e não pertencente à família dos compostos baseados em C60. Por ser um composto granular, é de fundamental importância a compreensão de mecanismos de interação de defeitos e a rede cristalina do material, além de eventuais processos envolvendo os contornos dos grãos que compõem o material. Neste sentido, as medidas de especgroscopia mecânica constituem uma ferramenta bastante poderosa para este estudo, pois por intermédio delas podemos obter importantes informações a respeito de transições e de fase e do comportamento de elementos intersticiais, substitucionais, discordâncias, contornos de grãos, difusão, instabilidades e outras imperfeições da rede. Estudos anelásticos em amostras de MgB2 são bastante escassos, porém, trabalhos recentes em magnésio puro e ligas especiais a base de magnésio mostram a ocorrência de diversos processos de relaxação associados à discordâncias, contornos de grãos e interações entre elementos intersticiais e outras imperfeições da rede. Neste trabalho, as amostras foram preparadas pelo método powder-in-tube (PIT) e forma caracterizadas por medidas de densidade, difração de raios X, microscopia eletrônica de varredura, espectrometria por dispersão de energia, resistividade elétrica e magnetização. As medidas de espectroscopia mecânica mostraram espectros bastante complexos, onde foram identificados oito processos de relaxação devido a movimentos de discordâncias, interação entre elementos intersticiais e discordâncias, auto-difusão e movimento de contornos de grãos. / The discovery of the superconductivity in the MgB2 (magnesium diaboride) was of great importance for the community of the solid state physics, therefore this material is one of few binary intermetallic composites known currently with the one of the biggest critical temperatures (39 K) for a non-oxide and not pertainig to C60 composites based family. Due its granular composition, it is of great importance the understanding of mechanisms of interaction of defects and the crystalline lattice of the material, beyond eventual processes involving the grains boundaries that compose the material. In this sense, the mechanical spectroscopy measurements constitute a powerful tool for this study, therefore by them we can get important information regarding phase transitions and the behavior of intersistial or substitutional elements, dislocations, grain boundaries, diffusion, instabilities and other imperfections of the lattice. Anelastic studies in MgB2 samples are very poor, but, recent researches made in pure magnesium and magnesium based alloys shown the occurrence of several relaxation processes associated to dislocations, grain boundaries and interaction of interstitial elements and another lattice imperfections. In this research, the samples were prepared by powder-in-tube (PIT) method and were characterized by density, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy diepersive x-ray spectroscopy, electrical resistivity and magnetization measurements. The mechanical spectroscopy measurements shown sufficiently complex spectra, where identified eight relaxation processes due to the dislocation motion, interaction between interstitials elements and dislocations, self-diffusion and grain boundaries motion

In multiband superconductors, different bands at the Fermi surface contribute to the superconductivity with different magnitudes of superconducting gaps on different portions of the Fermi surface. Each band in a multiband superconductor has a condensate with an amplitude and phase that weakly interacts with the other bands’ condensate. The coupling strength between the bands determines whether one or two superconducting transition temperatures are observed, and it is the key to many peculiar properties. In general, if there are two gaps of different magnitude, there are two different length scales associated with the suppression of these gaps in applied magnetic fields, for example. Therefore, effects of multigap superconductivity can be observed in superconducting vortices, which are twirls of supercurrents that are generated when a superconductor is placed in a magnetic field. Furthermore, the two superconducting order parameters in different bands are characterized by a magnitude and phase. In multiband superconductors, there are collective excitations corresponding to fluctuations of the relative phase of two order parameters, so-called the Leggett mode. The first material identified as multiband superconductor is Magnesium Diboride (MgB2) in 2001 with a critical temperature Tc of 39 K. MgB2 is a superconducting material with the highest transition temperature among all conventional BCS superconductors. It has two superconducting gaps \Delta_\pi ~ 2 meV and \Delta_\sigma\ ~ 7 meV and they arise from the existence of two bands \pi and \sigma bands of boron electrons. The discovery of superconductivity in MgB2 renewed interest in the field of multiband superconductivity. MgB2 has attracted many scientists’ attention both for the fundamental importance of understanding the multiband superconductivity and possible applications such as magnets, power cables, bolometers, Josephson junction-based electronic devices, and radio-frequency cavities. Afterward, other materials have been identified as multiband superconductors such as NbSe2, the family of iron-based superconductors, heavy fermion superconductors, multilayer cuprates, borocarbides, etc. This dissertation uses tunneling experiments to highlight multiband superconductivity features in two systems, namely MgB2 thin films and ultrathin films of Pb. Further, we use multiple techniques to study a superconducting material, nitrogen-doped niobium, used for superconducting radio-frequency cavities. For the project on MgB2, MgB2/Native-Oxide/Ag planar junctions are fabricated and characterized down to 2.1 K and in the magnetic field parallel to the sample surface up to 6 Tesla. This work investigates how pairbreaking affects the magnitude and phase of the order parameter in a multiband superconductor. The tunneling spectra are analyzed in the framework of a two-band model developed by our theory collaborator Prof. Alex Gurevich, Old Dominion University. The model allows the extraction of the pair-breaking parameters among other quantities. The analysis shows that the order parameter in the ? band is quickly suppressed in the field, the ? band is cleaner than the ? band. The ratio of pairbreaking parameter in the ? band to the ? band rapidly increases at fields higher than ~0.1 T and then plateau at higher fields. This transition around 0.1 T magnetic field suggests a phase decoupling in the two bands of MgB2. Below the transition, the two bands are phase-locked, so mostly, the superconductivity in the ? band is affected, and after phase decoupling, both bands are affected by the applied field. These results are important for a basic understanding of multiband superconductors and the application implications of this material. This phase decoupling has a new and profound consequence on the superconducting state of a multiband superconductor that has been theoretically predicted and never observed experimentally. For the Pb project, ultrathin films of Pb in ultrahigh vacuum conditions are deposited by e-beam evaporation and characterized with low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/STS). The STM/STS allows measuring the electronic density of states with the highest spatial resolution down to atomic scale. The shape of a superconducting vortex core is determined by the superconducting gap and the Fermi velocity, and the STM allows to map anisotropies of these quantities spatially. The vortex cores of Pb film show a complex shape that evolves from triangular at short distances from the center to a six-fold symmetric star shape farther away from the center. These details are very subtle, and they can be highlighted only if one works within the clean limit (to avoid the averaging effect of the scattering) and by fabricating the heterostructure that pins the vortices spatially. The complex vortex core shape reflects the anisotropy of the two bands that contribute to superconductivity in this material. For the project on Niobium, cold and hot spots from nitrogen-doped Nb cutouts are characterized by low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/STS) combined with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The radiofrequency (RF) measurements of the quality factor and temperature mapping on an N-doped Nb superconducting resonator cavity are carried out at Jefferson Laboratory before cutting out the samples. This work aims to identify possible sources of excess dissipation in hot spots and relate them to the surface chemical composition and superconducting properties. The temperature mapping revealed a strong effect of the cavity cooldown rate on the intensities of hot spots and their spatial distribution, which indicates a significant contribution of trapped vortices to the RF dissipation. SEM images acquired on the cold and hot spots using a secondary electron detector show absence of residual hydride scars and niobium nitrides on their surface. Angle-resolved XPS measurements on the native surface of these samples revealed higher oxidized Nb 3d states on the N-doped Nb cold spots, which is supported by XPS depth profiles done on the samples by Argon ion sputtering. Argon ion sputtering of oxidized Nb removes oxygen preferentially from Nb2O5 and diffuses to bulk, thickening the lower oxidation state layers. The proximity theory framework’s tunneling spectra analysis suggests hot spots have stronger pairbreaking due to a weakly reduced pair potential, a thicker metallic suboxide layer, and a wide distribution of the contact resistance. STM imaging of vortex cores shows a triangular vortex lattice in both samples, and the coherence length is nearly the same in hot and cold spots. The experimental data analysis suggests weakly degraded superconducting properties at the surface of hot spot regions are not the primary sources of RF losses. Instead, they are the regions where vortices nucleate first and get trapped during cooling down. These experimental techniques and findings will be crucial in helping to qualify new recipes for SRF cavity production and to boost their performance. / Physics

Em Janeiro de 2001, um supercondutor totalmente novo foi apresentado por Nagamatsu, o diboreto de magnésio (MgB2), com uma temperatura crítica, Tc, surpreendentemente alta de 39 K. Atualmente, o MgB2 é considerado o condutor de alto campo do futuro. É claramente aceito que os valores excepcionais de altos campos magnético crítico superior, Hc2, (Hc2 + (0) ? 40 T para Tc ? 35 - 40 K) mostram que o MgB2 é capaz de substituir o Nb3Sn (Hc2 (0) ? 30 T para Tc ? 18 K) como a escolha para aplicações de altos campos magnéticos. Neste trabalho foram preparadas pastilhas supercondutoras de MgB2 utilizando adições de diboretos metálicos de ZrB2, TaB2, VB2 e AlB2 e adições simultâneas de diboretos metálicos e fontes diversas de carbono, como carbeto de silício, grafite e nanotubos de carbono. O objetivo da adição desses novos elementos foi criar mecanismos para melhorar a capacidade de transporte do material, tanto pela dopagem substitucional como pela geração de defeitos na matriz supercondutora, atuando como eficientes centros de aprisionamento das linhas de fluxo magnético. Para isso foram utilizados dois diferentes métodos de preparação de amostras, insitu e ex-situ. O método de preparação in-situ seguiu padrões convencionais, como mistura em moinho de bola e tratamento térmico em fluxo de argônio. Para a preparação das amostras utilizando-se o método ex-situ foram utilizadas técnicas mais sofisticadas, como moagem de alta energia e tratamento térmico em altas pressões (Hot Isostatic Press, HIP). Em geral, as adições dos diboretos metálicos melhoraram a capacidade de transporte do material em baixos campos, as fontes de carbono aumentaram os valores de densidade de corrente crítica em altos campos magnéticos, enquanto que as combinações das duas adições melhoram a capacidade de transporte, para algumas amostras, em toda a faixa de campo magnético medida. / In January 2001, a new superconductor was presented by Nagamatsu, the magnesium diboride (MgB2), with a critical temperature, Tc, extremely high of 39 K. MgB2 is considered the high field conductor of the future. The exceptional high values of upper critical magnetic field, Hc2, (Hc2 + (0) ? 40 T for Tc ? 35 - 40 K) show that the MgB2 is able to replace the Nb3Sn (Hc2 (0) ? 30 T for Tc ? 18 K) as the choice for applications in high magnetic fields. In this work, superconducting pellets of MgB2 were prepared with addition of other metal diborides of ZrB2, TaB2, VB2, and AlB2, and simultaneous additions of metal diborides and different carbon sources, such as silicon carbide, graphite and carbon nanotubes. The objective of these additions of new elements was to create mechanisms to improve the transport capacity of the material, by substitutional doping and by generation of defects in the superconducting matrix, acting as effective pinning centers of magnetic flux lines. Two different methods for sample preparation were used, the in-situ and the ex-situ method. The in-situ preparation method followed conventional standards, such as powder mixing in a ball mill and heat treatment in argon flow. The ex-situ preparation method used more sophisticated techniques, such as high energy ball milling and heat treatment under high pressures (Hot Isostatic Press, HIP). In general, the additions of metal diborides improved the transport capacity of the material at low fields, the carbon sources increased the critical current density at high magnetic fields, whereas the combination of these two additions improved the transport capacity, for some samples, in all range of applied magnetic field.

Em Janeiro de 2001, um supercondutor totalmente novo foi apresentado por Nagamatsu, o diboreto de magnésio (MgB2), com uma temperatura crítica, Tc, surpreendentemente alta de 39 K. Atualmente, o MgB2 é considerado o condutor de alto campo do futuro. É claramente aceito que os valores excepcionais de altos campos magnético crítico superior, Hc2, (Hc2 + (0) ? 40 T para Tc ? 35 - 40 K) mostram que o MgB2 é capaz de substituir o Nb3Sn (Hc2 (0) ? 30 T para Tc ? 18 K) como a escolha para aplicações de altos campos magnéticos. Neste trabalho foram preparadas pastilhas supercondutoras de MgB2 utilizando adições de diboretos metálicos de ZrB2, TaB2, VB2 e AlB2 e adições simultâneas de diboretos metálicos e fontes diversas de carbono, como carbeto de silício, grafite e nanotubos de carbono. O objetivo da adição desses novos elementos foi criar mecanismos para melhorar a capacidade de transporte do material, tanto pela dopagem substitucional como pela geração de defeitos na matriz supercondutora, atuando como eficientes centros de aprisionamento das linhas de fluxo magnético. Para isso foram utilizados dois diferentes métodos de preparação de amostras, insitu e ex-situ. O método de preparação in-situ seguiu padrões convencionais, como mistura em moinho de bola e tratamento térmico em fluxo de argônio. Para a preparação das amostras utilizando-se o método ex-situ foram utilizadas técnicas mais sofisticadas, como moagem de alta energia e tratamento térmico em altas pressões (Hot Isostatic Press, HIP). Em geral, as adições dos diboretos metálicos melhoraram a capacidade de transporte do material em baixos campos, as fontes de carbono aumentaram os valores de densidade de corrente crítica em altos campos magnéticos, enquanto que as combinações das duas adições melhoram a capacidade de transporte, para algumas amostras, em toda a faixa de campo magnético medida. / In January 2001, a new superconductor was presented by Nagamatsu, the magnesium diboride (MgB2), with a critical temperature, Tc, extremely high of 39 K. MgB2 is considered the high field conductor of the future. The exceptional high values of upper critical magnetic field, Hc2, (Hc2 + (0) ? 40 T for Tc ? 35 - 40 K) show that the MgB2 is able to replace the Nb3Sn (Hc2 (0) ? 30 T for Tc ? 18 K) as the choice for applications in high magnetic fields. In this work, superconducting pellets of MgB2 were prepared with addition of other metal diborides of ZrB2, TaB2, VB2, and AlB2, and simultaneous additions of metal diborides and different carbon sources, such as silicon carbide, graphite and carbon nanotubes. The objective of these additions of new elements was to create mechanisms to improve the transport capacity of the material, by substitutional doping and by generation of defects in the superconducting matrix, acting as effective pinning centers of magnetic flux lines. Two different methods for sample preparation were used, the in-situ and the ex-situ method. The in-situ preparation method followed conventional standards, such as powder mixing in a ball mill and heat treatment in argon flow. The ex-situ preparation method used more sophisticated techniques, such as high energy ball milling and heat treatment under high pressures (Hot Isostatic Press, HIP). In general, the additions of metal diborides improved the transport capacity of the material at low fields, the carbon sources increased the critical current density at high magnetic fields, whereas the combination of these two additions improved the transport capacity, for some samples, in all range of applied magnetic field.