Thermal-driven gigantic enhancement in critical current density of high-entropy alloy superconductors

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2023.11.040

Abstract

Abstract: The high-entropy alloy (HEA) superconductor, Ta_1/6Nb_2/6Hf_1/6Zr_1/6Ti_1/6 (Ta-Nb-Hf-Zr-Ti), is systematically studied to examine changes in superconducting critical properties, critical temperature (T_c), critical current density (J_c), and upper critical field (H_c2), concerning thermal treatment conditions. Annealing condition affects J_c more significantly than T_c and H_c2, with a large improvement of flux pinning force density (F_p). The J_c of bare sample is reduced to 10 A cm^-2 at an applied magnetic field of approximately 1.5 T, whereas the sample annealed at 550 °C for 12 h exhibits J_c > 100 kA cm^-2 up to around 4 T. Furthermore, the Vickers hardness (HV_IT) of the Ta-Nb-Hf-Zr-Ti HEA superconductor notably increases from ∼384 to 528 HV_IT following a 24-h annealing at 500 °C. These results demonstrate that thermal annealing is a powerful process to optimize both the superconducting and mechanical properties of high-entropy alloy superconductors.

Key words: High-entropy alloy superconductor, Ta-Nb-Hf-Zr-Ti, Annealing, Critical current density, Hardness

Jihyun Kim, Soon-Gil Jung, Yoonseok Han, Jin Hee Kim, Jong-Soo Rhyee, Sunmog Yeo, Tuson Park. Thermal-driven gigantic enhancement in critical current density of high-entropy alloy superconductors[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2024, 189: 60-67.

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